Diamond and Pearl: Reverse Time
by JapanDreamer09
Summary: Prologue of DP: Time Travel. Lucas, an orphan, undergoes many hardships throughout his life as Team Galactic dictate Sinnoh. What Lucas doesn't realize is that he is about to embark on a dangerous journey - a journey back in time. On hiatus until further notice.
1. The Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: After so many stories, you would think I would own Pokemon…**

Hey guys. Thanks for clicking on this story and checking it out. For those who do not know me, I'm **JapanDreamer** and this is my sixth story! Yay! I reply to reviews and PM but do not expect an immediate answer.

Now a lot of you probably already know me because you're reading this since this is the prologue to my **DP Time Travel** story. However, for those who don't know, let me explain (those who do know, please skip the next paragraph).

My DP story is about the protagonist (Lucas) from DP games living in an awful world ruled by Team Galactic and tried to go back in time to stop it. Many of my reviewers were curious and wanted more of this future stuff and after some consideration; I've decided that I'll give it a shot. I would highly recommend you read my DP story (at least the first two chapters) to have somewhat of an understanding as to what is going on.

**HOWEVER,** this is a low priority which will only be updated when I find some good inspiration. I have more information under my Author Notes after this chapter so check it out later.

Enjoy!

**The Catalyst:**

It was the end of the world.

Sinnoh region was clouded with dark clouds overhead as though it was about to face judgment. Thunder could be heard and shook the region as though it was quaking from fear. Lightning flashed across the sky every once in a while. Below, hundreds of people were fleeing in terror. Screams and cries were heard everywhere.

In the mist of the chaos, Daniel Diamond stared with horror as he looked through the window at Mt. Coronet, which seemed to look more dismal and gloomy than usual in the distance. Just a couple of years ago, a great burst of white light appeared from the top like a signal beam, reaching past the clouds and toward the heaven. It was a beautiful sight, but then something went wrong. The light spread over the region like a half of a sphere. Multi colors of red, green, and blue spread across like a kaleidoscope.

From what Daniel had heard, Team Galactic had organized and summoned legendary Pokemon to control the entire region. Since then, everything became worse. Sinnoh's champion and gym leaders became prisoners of war, lowering the morals of people. Team Galactic had become a full throttle force of power to create an empire.

It was an all out war. Many, like Daniel, tried to fight back but it was hopeless. Daniel remembered how he came back here from Johto for a bit of peace and to settle down. Now, that dream was impossible. He was in an abandoned factory, looking out through the broken windows. The army was about to storm in any minute and there was nothing he could do…

"Daniel…" Daniel looked down to see his wife in his arms. Her soft gray eyes stared dully back at him – the sparkle in her eyes was slowly dimmed out. The wound in her stomach left red blood against her blue short-sleeve dress. Her flowing red hair lay limp against her cheeks. She was a long slender woman in her mid twenties. Her face was pale and white from the lost of blood. She wore a blue short-sleeve dress that was ripped where the wound entry was. A blood trail could be seen from the broken door to where Daniel had dragged his wife to. With no medical treatment, Daniel couldn't do anything except spend the last remaining minutes of her life with her.

"Hang in there," Daniel said, trying to hold back his tears. "You're going to make it. You're going to make it." He had been saying this line over and over again, trying so hard to believe it. A tall mid twenty year old guy, Daniel was a person you couldn't hate at all. He was lax and easily made friends with everyone. His short black hair emphasized his round face to give him the look of a young child. He wore a black jacket, slightly large, with a white shirt (now soaked with blood) underneath along with dark black slacks. His soft brown eyes were like a child – innocent and carefree. Now, however, they were filled with pain as he watched the person he loved lay dying in front of him.

If only he had moved faster… if only he didn't falter to say goodbye to...

"Daniel," Shiki gave a weak smile which only pained Daniel even more. "You're such an idiot. But that's what I love about you."

"I'm so sorry," Daniel said, his tears finally flowing out, "If only… if only I didn't hesitate…" Through the mist of panic in the city, those people found them and opened fire. Although the two managed to escape, Shiki was not so very lucky.

"It's okay," Shiki said softly, "You are a father. It was natural you wouldn't want to. But you had to let your son go. It was the only way for his survival. My only regret is that I won't see my son grow up to be just like his father." Shiki smiled again and closed her eyes as though she was in another world, seeing her son and his father together.

There were muffle sounds coming from outside and getting closer, but Daniel didn't pay attention. Safety was the last thing on his mind.

"You'll have that! You'll be able to hear his first words, see when he takes his first steps, when he cries; you'll be there for him. Every day, he'll smile and say 'I love you'!" Shiki continued to close her eyes as though she was seeing the things Daniel was describing.

"My son… my son, Lucas," Shiki muttered, tears running down her cheeks. She took a shuddering and painful breath and lay motionlessly in Daniel's arms, never to wake up again. Daniel's tears splashed to the ground as he watched his wife. She looked so peaceful, as though she was sleeping.

Finally, the door smashed open and hundreds of high-tech soldiers were there. They wore expensive spacesuit uniforms with a large yellow 'G' symbol in the front. All of them had Pokemon and were ready to attack. Daniel ignored the sight and hugged Shiki tightly to his chest. He wasn't ready to let her go.

"So Daniel," a young woman voice cried out as she stepped forward in front of the army line. She had short red hair – red as Shiki's. Her eyes, however, had nothing but malice in them. She noticed the blood trial that led to Shiki's body. "Are you planning to surrender yet or die fighting like your wife?" Daniel slowly got up and stared back with nothing but pain in his eyes. He knew that he, too, would never see his son again.

It was the end of the world and this was his last fight.

**Author's Notes**

I was seriously depressed after writing this chapter. At least it fitted the mood I'm having after the first week of school. Sigh…

Now, onto important news.

For those who are wonder, I've already decided to accept OCs, but **DO NOT SEND ME ANY AS OF NOW!**

I need to figure out a better way to organize this and will let you know in the next chapter. There are no trainers or coordinators (since it is the end of the world. Lol) but I'm going to make a new list of other occupations (Pokemorphs, fighter, etc.) so don't worry about that.

Also, chapters will not be this short. I figured a bit of an introduction was needed before I continue.

On a totally different note, Pokemon Best Wishes is coming out soon and it looks like Ash is back for sure with (of course) Pikachu. I don't know if I'm the only one who finds this weird but did anyone thought it was strange how Ash's eyes turned from black to brown? Ah, oh well. I hope they'll at least explain to us why Team Plasma wears such ridiculous clothing….

Okay, that's enough from me.

I love to hear some feedback and I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	2. One Year Later

**Disclaimer: No Pokemon are owned by me.**

Hello and once again we got a new chapter. :D

It is a bit short but it is mostly introductions to new characters.

**Now for those who were waiting for me to post the guidelines of making OCs, I have put it under a new story. If you wish to make an OC, go there to read the instructions.**

Now on the chapter!

**Chapter Two:**

_**About a year later…**_

The streets were in ruins yet there was no sign of rebuilding. The sky was gray and has been for almost a year. Rain falling was rare and sunshine was even rarer. Occasionally snowflakes will flutter down – as though to spread some innocent happiness before melting completely. The wind blew with great power now, causing small debris to fly by. Buildings were no more than crumbling piles of rocks and at first sight no sign of life, not even a plant's. However, lurking in the shadows of these places were even more shadows – shadows that were afraid to come into the light.

Two people wearing large black cloaks that billowed with the wind were walking down the street. One of them was what appeared to be an adult around his thirties while the other looked around twelve or even eleven. Their footsteps were drowned out by the sound of the wind yet their appearance made the living souls hiding to shrink back into their secret layers even more. As though, they knew what was going to happen. Yet at the same time, curiosity aroused from those who were brave and some started to venture out and stare at these cloaked people from behind.

If the two new strangers knew that they were being watched, they didn't make any indication as they continued to walk. The older of the two took out a small worn book out of his brown sack he was carrying. His black gloved hands opened the book to the page he was looking – a colorful picture of a town. He looked at his surroundings and back at the book as though to comprehend the two different sceneries.

"Well, I be, this place is not like what they wrote in the guidebook but this book is about two years old so I can't rely on it too much," the man said, obviously joking. The young kid didn't respond and merely stayed silent by the man's side. "Well, not that it matters," the man continued as he snapped the book shut and placed it back into the bag.

They continued to march through the streets without any problems and finally, the man spoke again, only this time serious. His cloak's hood covered his face, but one could still see the dark blue cold eyes from underneath. "Do not fail, Leo."

The young boy, making an indication that he was definitely not deaf, nodded in understanding. He could not fail. This mission was important in gaining the trust of these people who asked for their help. It was fatal to gain trust when they were so little left in this crumbling world. They finally reached to the middle part of the city and stood there. The two seemed to be waiting for something and apparently whatever it was decided to not let the guests linger to long.

Suddenly, there was a growling noise. A large shadow was watching the two from above since the moment those they stepped foot into this city. It jumped straight at where the two cloaked people were but, as though they expected it, both immediately split and jumped away just as the shadow came crashing down and creating a large crack in the stone road.

Life immediately cowered back into their safe hiding spots. It was as though they knew what this newcomer shadow was – something evil and dangerous.

"Oh ho!" the man cried with amusement, "So_ it_ has come to us instead." He was referring it to what appeared to be a human – or was it?

The shadow was definitely built and shaped like a normal twenty year old man wearing only what appeared to be torn brown pants but there was definitely something strange about him. He had a green tinge to his skin. His wrists had what appeared to be green blades sticking out. He had a green palm tree like tail. His hands have slowly merged into what appeared to be curved green claws. The only thing that really seemed normal was the short blond hair. The man – or whatever it was – shrieked in a loud raspy voice. His yellow lizard eyes glared as though he himself was mad. Whatever human he had before was completely gone.

"Poor fellow," the man said, though there was more amusement than sympathy, "Lost his mind after the experimentations. "Wouldn't be surprised if _they_ left him here just to cause fear to the people living here."

"GAHHHHH!" The monster shrieked again and charged at the standstill man who didn't seem to flinch. Instead, he seemed to be more amused at this direct attack. Before the monster could even touch the man, the other small cloaked figure grabbed the monster from behind and threw the surprised creature away from the man. The monster hit the crumbling rocks from the other side.

"Good job Leo," the man said smiling at the small cloaked figure, "You have improved." The young twelve year old kid took off his cloak in reply. The young boy had jet black hair that fell softly to his cheek. His brown eyes were filled with emptiness as though no feeling could be processed through this boy's mind. Despite the cold weather, he wasn't wearing a shirt and his bare skin revealed many scars and puncture wounds. He had on worn out long black pants. He turned his head toward the monster that was getting up from the rubbles.

Deciding to change target, the green monster charged at Leo. The monster opened his mouth wide enough so that Leo could see the thin pink lizard tongue. The boy, not hesitating, charged forward as well. The green human used his wrists blades to slash his opponent, but Leo merely jumped and slammed his foot against the guy's face. However, this didn't seem to weaken the monster, only made it angrier as it pushed stronger.

Just as the monster tried to take another swipe, Leo crouched down and charged forward for a full frontal attack. This made the green monster stagger but it wasn't enough to make it fall down. The monster hissed and tried to swipe again but Leo managed to move away as quickly as he had come.

As he stood there to watch like a spectator, the man frowned slightly. Leo was having difficulty fighting a grown man. Although it is easier to slip and avoid attacks, Leo didn't have the power to pack enough punch to knock the monster out. The monster was only attacking short distance but he was quick and the blades could definitely cut through rock. If they were fighting normally, Leo wouldn't stand a chance. But then again, Leo did have one advantage but it required him to position himself correctly and use the power he carried…

Leo kept light on his feet. If he didn't the blades could easily slice through him. The monster's pattern was the same though – keep slicing and charging ahead. Leo could tell that any human emotions of happiness or pain this guy had been gone. Instead, there was only a deep craving – a craving to kill.

The strong wind was blowing stronger now but Leo was still waiting for the perfect chance. He didn't want to be close yet he also didn't want to be too far away. However, Leo's time was up. The blade finally made contact with his face.

SWIPPP!

"Ack!" Leo spoke for the first time. He immediately drew back about twenty feet away – a blood trail followed his path. The blade didn't cut his face too badly but it made a long bloody mark across his face from the top of his right eye to his left cheek. Leo fell down onto one leg as his right arm covered his right eye. The wind was to his back so that the blood wouldn't blow to his face.

"What are you doing?" The man snapped, angry for the first time, "Stop dawdling and fight seriously! At this rate, you'll die!" The monster gave a wide evil grin at his success and slowly licked his opponent's blood off of his wrist blade. The lizard yellow eyes seemed to pulse as though Leo's blood was a shot of caffeine to the monster's system. Leo panted as he tried to see with his left eye. Blood splattered hard against the pavement like raindrops. He was in position to counterattack but can he pull the attack off? The monster, savoring the moment, slowly came forward. Closer and closer… Then all of a sudden, he charged forward. Leo barely had time to react when his opponent was just three feet away from him.

"AHHHHHH!" Leo yelled in pain and his shoulders immediately erupted with flames. Before the opponent could show a surprise look, the strong wind powered up the flames shot straight at the monster.

FOOM! The monster was now covered with flames as it started to eat away his skin and leaving the smell of decaying flesh. "HISSSSSSAAAAAA!" The monster yelled in pain as it tried to stop the fire from burning him but the strong wind was too powerful. It twisted and turn on the road, its voice echoing through the whole town.

The cloaked man ignored the dying monster and rushed to Leo who, from the loss of blood was lying on the ground in pain. The man got out bandages from the small bag and expertly started to cover the injured face. "You were too careless. You could've died if you didn't react fast enough." The man's voice had a mixture of disappointment and relief.

Leo didn't say anything but merely stared at the burning monster that finally stopped moving and just lay there - dead. The flames quickly died away as they had come, allowing Leo to see what was left. The body was unrecognizable now and was all black burnt. Smoke was coming off from it and Leo could smell decaying flesh. For the first time today, Leo's brown eyes were slowly melting into an emotion – sorrow.

"He was a monster Leo," the man said as though he knew what the boy was thinking. "He would've killed more people if it wasn't for you. Show no remorse, He is no longer human, just like you should be." Leo looked down, still ashamed and at shocked at what he had just done. At the age of twelve, he has killed for the first time.

Pulling Leo up, the man placed the cloak back on Leo and together they started to slowly make their way out of the city.

The body was left there as though nothing more than a pile of dirt.

…

_**In another city…**_

"Come back you thief!" Justin ignored the yells and continued to run. He carried a half of a small loaf of bread in his hand and the other half was in his mouth. He moved through the mazes in the terrain with ease. He jumped over crates, slid past workers, and pushed through heavy crowds of poor beggars. He was ten years old and already a born thief. The city was doing poorly though it was still working. Beggars and thieves had sprung up over the years and more families have been separated or lost. Justin was no exception. He had been living independently in this city for a whole year and had learned the art of stealing quickly in order to survive.

His messy blond hair was wild looking and his grimy face along with his sandy shirt showed that he had not taken a bath for over a week. He didn't have any shoes, but managed to run through the city with ease. Behind him was a turquoise hair man with a space suit on. Many people cowered away when they saw who was chasing Justin. This spacesuit man was one of them – one of the soldiers guarding this place.

Since a year ago, many of these 'soldiers' were placed here to keep the place safe. So far, they haven't done their job the way they promised and instead bullied people and took advantage of their helplessness. Justin despised these men who don't even look normal. A couple of times, he stole from these men just give them a taste of their own medicine. So far, he had never been caught and today, he wasn't planning to either.

Justin quickly ran into an alley with tall red wall bricks on each side and appeared to have a dead end but he quickly ran through a small opening that was hidden by large broken and unused crates. He crawled through the tunnel and was able to hear the fuming anger from the grunt as he wondered where the small thief had disappeared off to. Justin continued his way through the tunnel. It was dark and he couldn't see anything. There were parts of the tunnel where it diverged into multiple paths but Justin had already known by heart where he needed to go. Soon, he saw light up ahead which gradually grew larger until he finally reached the end of his destination.

The room was large enough to perhaps hold five people even though only two people live there at the time. There were two moth eaten blankets on the side, a kettle next to them, and a table in the middle of the room.

"Justin!" A voice called out in relief. Justin found himself face to face with an old man whose fingers were knobby and coarse like a tree's bark. The wrinkled face cracked into a smile – revealing several missing teeth. The man's white beard cast sliver lighting from the small lighted candle that was on the table where he sat. Next to him was an equally old man though much more plump and short – a person Justin never saw before.

"Uncle," Justin said when he took the loaf of bread from his mouth in order to speak. "What's going on?" Uncle never brought anybody into the lair. In fact, Uncle never left the place due to his fatigue health. The old man took Justin in a couple of months ago and Justin repay the favor by helping Uncle scavenge for food. However, Uncle (he refused to reveal his name) never talked much about his past life but it was obvious that these two knew each other. Who was this man?

"So this is Justin," the plump old man said with a wheezy voice, "I must say, he is pretty scrawny for a ten year old." Justin couldn't help but feel a spark of anger inside of him. He decided he didn't like the man no matter what.

"Justin," Uncle said, looking straight at the young boy, "this is an important man who is going to change our lives. I have agreed to give our full cooperation with him." Justin's eyes widened with suspicion. Uncle trusted this man a lot, yet Justin couldn't see why. "Justin, I would like you meet Mr. Nova – the head of the New Resistance."

**Author's Notes**

Say hello to Leo and Justin from DPTT! :D

I love these characters and decided to give them their own little bit of introduction to the story. I personally enjoyed writing Leo's fight scene. There are times like these when I wish I could draw it out instead of writing it.

Also, more of their past will be revealed as the story continues.

Next chapter will focus back on Lucas so hang tight. I'll have OCs from you reviewers out when I get past the introduction of the story that ties back to DPTT

On another, note, what do you guys think of BW's new Pokemon and the anime? I kind of wish they stopped throwing out new Pokemon to our face. I'm pretty sure 500+ Pokemon is going a bit overboard. I'm still undetermined with the anime but the graphics look pretty nice so it might be okay.

Let's thank my reviewers first before we go.

…

**Rinku588**

**Assassin42**

**Sparky**

**SagaAuraMana**

**Furryfur**

**Ketchum Kid** (I will only put "future OCs" if the reviewer follows my instructions and send it to me in the format of DP Reverse Time. I can't keep track of everybody's OC so it is best if they contact and remind me. Thanks for the review.)

**hydro-serpent58** (Urgh, writing that guideline took forever. I had to make sure I was specific enough too. Sigh. Anyways, thanks for reviewing)

**Banana **(Oh I get what you're trying to say. Time reference can make things so confusing. Lol. Thanks for the review.)

**Light-Sakura**

**gg121** (All right, good for you to reread the entire story again. Lol. Hopefully, I can tie the two stories together. Thanks for the review.)

…

All right, that's it from me; see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	3. Present Day and Ray

**Disclaimer: Own Pokemon? Don't make me laugh.**

Hey guys. For those who don't know, I was very busy these past few weeks and will continue to be so. But do not worry. I'll still find time to write, but it'll be at an incredibly slow pace. And yes, this chapter is shorter than usual.

Moving on, like I promised, Lucas' 'present' day is now introduced. And, because you guys have waited so patiently, I have an OC as a surprise! :D

Enjoy!

**Chapter 3:**

_Present day (Seven years later)…_

Lucas woke up with a painful ringing sound in his head. When he managed to open his eyes and the misty sleep cloud disappeared, Lucas realized that the sound was coming from the giant speaker from above – the bell to tell them to wake up.

Lucas got up and tried to block the ringing out of his head. However, there were more noises of thumping and bumping as a couple of other kids jumped from above as though from the sky. He looked around and noticed the room he was in. He was on the bottom bunk and the kids from above were already hastily dressed and rushing out the doors.

"Come on Dazy," one of the kids yelled at Lucas. "You're going to be the last one at this rate."

The name 'Dazy' came from the fact that Lucas was always never paying attention and in a daze like mode. Kids started to call him Dazy and the name stuck. Of course, sometimes they also call him 'Flower.' Lucas rubbed his short black hair and quickly changed into clothes that were just as ragged as his night time clothes. He stumbled out of his bunk and almost crashed to the ground. Lucas groaned and rubbed his head from pain.

Lucas ran out the door and down the gloomy hallway and to the bathroom which was long and had many sinks to accommodate twenty children at once. Of course, not all the sinks were working and there was a squabbling fight among several of the older kids. Lucas went to the nearest sink and tried to first straighten his black hair.

Eight years old and Lucas was still short for his age. It could be due to the lack of nutrition but somehow, Lucas managed to maintain his baby chubby face. His gray eyes were as cloudy as a storm. People said how it was ironic how his eyes seemed to give off a wise appearance while his brain doesn't.

"Yo! Flower," one of the older kids, about eleven, yelled from the back. Lucas flinched and tried to cower away, but it was already too late. The brown hair guy (named Bruce) was just as raggedy as the rest but he had a sense of superiority and he was built like a wrestler. One look from this kid and you can immediately tell that he wasn't someone to mess with. Especially when he had five equally strong bodyguards around him. "Get your butt moving or else!" The other kids cowered away as Bruce and his henchmen left the area, stopping only to purposely push Lucas against the sink. Bruce has been on Lucas' case since day one. Lucas was generally liked by most of peers and that, in Bruce's mind, made Lucas his rival.

Lucas tended to avoid conflict and wouldn't stand up for himself when Bruce challenged him and that made Bruce hate Lucas even more. Only being shoved in the morning was probably the nicest thing Bruce has ever done to Lucas. When Bruce has left, most of the kids scurried out as well. Brutus was always the first to be prepared and leave the bathroom in the morning – no one comes before Bruce.

"Dude," a small ten year old kid nicknamed Fisheye came over to Lucas who was now rubbing his stomach. Fisheye, like most of the orphans, never knew his real name and was named Fisheye due to his large round eyes. He was one of the few who didn't call Lucas by his nickname. "You need to get moving or else Headmistress will send you to the worst jobs." With that Fisheye took off, leaving Lucas all by himself – again.

"Move it! Last person will have no breakfast!" A voice screeched from below. Lucas groaned as his stomach growled with hunger. He was always last and if he managed to get breakfast, it was out of pity from the other kids. Lucas tumbled somewhat down the stairs and fell to the ground (again) and looked up to see a thin woman in her late forties.

"Lucas, you have been late getting up since the day you were born!" The woman screeched and Lucas started to shake with fear. He hated loud noise – noise of anger.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry," Lucas repeated, almost at the verge of tears. The headmistress (as she ordered the children to call her) was a very scary woman wearing clothes one would expect from a old fashion school teacher – long sleeve blouse and a long faded purple skirt. She would threaten the kids to get to work or else get a beating at the end of the day and without dinner.

However, there was a reason why such a woman is so snappish. Many of these children were homeless and put into this run down orphanage place. It was miracle there was even a place for these children in this area. The only reason this place was still running is because the government saw this as an opportunity to get quick and cheap labor. Lucas never showed resentment but he wished the lady would smile more. It might put her in a better mood.

"Get up," the woman growled and as the shaky boy slowly got to his feet, the woman pointed to a man standing next to her whom Lucas just realized was there. The man was a scrawny short looking rat man and twitched his nose once every so often. Behind him were several other kids who (like Lucas) were late coming down the stairs for breakfast. "You are to follow this man to go work at the mining area."

Lucas and the other kids seemed to flinch with horrifying thoughts.

"What about food?" Lucas asked timidly as his stomach rumbled. The woman glared through her square monocles as though Lucas was an unpleasant insect.

"You eat twice the amount of food than all of the kids put together. I suggest you start thinking about the others first before complaining about yourself." Lucas looked down, ashamed. It wasn't his fault that his stomach kept wanting to eat more… well actually Headmistress may have a point. Ever since he lived here, he managed to eat through two year supply of food.

"Well put Headmistress," the rat looking man said, looking sour as though Lucas' hungry stomach made him lose his own appetite. He grabbed Lucas roughly by the shoulders. "Come on then shorty. It's time to work."

…

_Somewhere underground…_

A tall boy with blonde hair walked down the tunnel without the slightest fear despite how the torches seemed to give off ghastly shadows everywhere. Eight years… eight years ago, he was on the streets scraping for food… and now… now Justin felt like he aged eighty instead. Everyday seemed to be a stressful situation. Nova had been running this place under tight ship. But then again, it was that which caused this resistance to work so well. There was never such a resistance that was so well organized and planned. The old man managed to bring everybody together and bring a common goal. It was amazing how many people were coming and joining.

Still, Justin knew that there was something more going on with that man. He may not look like it but Nova was always two and a half step ahead of the game. Something so simple like blowing up a factory could be the diversion needed and the stepping stones to organized hacking systems.

Eight years had changed Justin a lot. Now seventeen, he was for one, taller and quite a bit on the pale side but that was due to the lack of sunlight and him spending most of his life underground. Also, his blond hair was longer and layered. He had on his ears, pierced diamond stubs that he 'took' from his very first scouting mission at one of the Galactic Research buildings they infiltrated. He also had on a white unbuttoned jacket with its blue stripped sleeve folded to his elbows. He had on comfortable waterproof pants and worn out sneakers. To look cooler, he had a sword shape necklace hung around his neck.

Today was like any other day… or so Justin thought. Justin continued to walk down the tunnel, passing by a couple of shadows but he ignored them. They were people who were in a sense his college, but times of saying 'hi' were long gone. As he delved though the darkness, there were less and less people passing by. Soon, Justin came across a large polished metal steel door and without hesitation, took out a identification card from his pocket and swiped it on the card swipe next to the door. There was a chirping noise before the security light on the card swipe switched from red to green, indicating Justin that he could open the door.

Justin walked in to a room that was probably as large as a one bed hotel room. Yet, it seemed to be a lot smaller due to the computer screens that were hanging everywhere. In a sense, it was very bizarre to see so many electronics in one place. Wires were hanging everywhere and jumbled up as though making the world's largest tangle of knots. The blue screens were the only source of light in this room.

However, the decorations of the room were not the most bizarre thing. In the center of the, there was a nineteen year old guy sitting there in a chair. His eyes were closed and hands were on the arm rests with his legs perfectly positioned in front of him. The guy was wearing a navy blue shirt underneath a black sweater that had the Poke ball logo in the back and was also wearing cargo pants. He had red hair that reached to his shoulder. His entire body was covered with wires and underneath a metal bowl shape hat with antennas sticking out was a pair of headphones as though to block out the beeping noises of electronics. In the blue light, Justin could just barely make out the blue color floating flipper like objects that were slowly starting to hover unevenly.

From what Justin knew, the guy's name was Ray and had been a part of the resistance way before Justin joined. Justin never really talked to the guy much but that was because he was always working here. In fact, Ray never really talked much except when responding to an order. His voice was always robotic as though he felt no emotions.

Rumors had it that Ray was part of a Galactic experimentation and has been working for the organization. Ever since Ray came, Justin heard suspicions and rumors as to what Ray did to convince Nova that he had changed sides.

Next to Ray was an old man in a wheel chair. The old man's back was hunched over as though suffering from long years of back pain. His receding white hair gave a creepy white and blue glow. In his hand, the old man was holding a wooden cane for support for his back. The man barely gave a glance at Justin and instead continued to stare at the listless red hair guy.

"Justin," Nova muttered finally after Justin stood there by the door for about a good five minutes.

"What is it this time?" Justin asked, a bit rudely, his arms crossed in front of his chest. One thing has definitely not changed this whole eight years – Justin still hated Nova. However, Mr. Nova seemed to be use to this hostility with all of his members and ignored Justin's tone.

"I want you to gather some our new recruits and take them on a scouting mission," Nova stated, "Go to the mining area in Sector 46."

"Me?" Justin said, wondering why he was given such a lousy mission and from the head himself. The mining area was some small Galactic project that required many civilian manual labor. Of course, it wasn't safe and life expectancy of some of these people decreased rapidly due to the conditions. However, late at night, when the mining was closed, the resistance managed to sneak in and infiltrate in hopes of finding some survivors as new recruits. In a team of four, it was very easy and security was very low, making it perfect for new recruits to practice their skills in the real world. Something fishy was going on.

"I'll be joining the mission as well," Nova said. Nova's scratchy and raspy voice immediately started to have a coughing spasm.

"You?" Justin said, even more shocked. Mr. Nova was defiantly not fit to go outside. Years of living underground and age had definitely put him in a weak physical state. Nova didn't respond to Justin's shock until the coughs died away.

"Yes," Nova said without elaborating. "I want you to set up a team now and meet me back here in twenty minutes." There was final note to his voice and Justin knew that he was dismissed. However, the teenager hesitated and took another glance at Ray who was still motionless.

"Move," Nova said in an angry tone now and Justin finally left. The door boomed shut, leaving Justin to ponder as to why Nova was acting like this… what was in that mining area that would make him want to come as well?

…

Lucas shuddered as he felt the cold air blew against his face. The others were shivering as well as they got pushed along the line where everybody else was moving to be assigned to their jobs. They were all moving in some sort of sluggish beat as though they were all weary of life itself. The tunnel was dark and damp. The smell of decay made several people gagged. There were several light bulbs hanging from a wire and traveled through the area in a straight line. Lucas and the other kids were roughly grabbed and thrown into a line that came toward a large pile of rocks that other workers had dumped out for them.

The job was simple as that rat man had said who brought Lucas here. Grabbed all the rocks into boxes and bring them out to the shipping area. As though time couldn't be wasted, Lucas was immediately roughly handed a box of black rocks that glittered under the dim lights.

"Maove yet ya stoupid Sneorelax!" Lucas winced as the whip slashed across the air and smacked to the ground next to him. The voice came from a six-foot overweight bald man whose black mustache, long and thin, seemed to contrast this bizarre giant's appearance.

The man was a regular kind of bike gang. He wore one of those ripped up blue jean type of vests with many pockets and a black XXXL shirt underneath. On the left side of his pocket was a small ID card with a large 'G' symbol on the very top. On the bottom was a blown up picture that amplified the ugly man's sinister face. His blue jeans, barely holding on, was torn and ratted in many places. His large hiking boots seemed to shake the ground with each step he took. In his large grubby hand was a sleek brand-new black whip. It was already covered in blood.

Lucas hurried past the man, who gave Lucas a death stare. All of the other people, like Lucas, winced at the sight of the whip. They were all covered with long thin red raw cuts that were still dripping with blood. Lucas and the others were carrying large packages of strange rocks that needed to be moved. It was a tedious process and efficiency was required. Most of the people who were working here are those that have no experience with technology. In fact the whole group consisted of young children, like Lucas, old grandparents, and young teenagers. Everybody else was working at the giant headquarter where scientists were working on some sort of secret project.

Lucas almost dropped the box as a couple of rocks came crashing down from the top. This entire mine was unstable. One false move and they could all be caved in, or worse- killed. Most of the people were moving slowly and carefully, in hopes of staying alive. However, the boss in charge of them didn't like the idea of slow.

"Yawl Ear MI? Maove ya stupid pepple!" The man said with his horrible accent, "Don't cha make mi use Seviper again!" A large hiss came from the shadow next to the man. Red eyes were gleaming and a forked tongue could be seen. Everybody's faces were plastered with nothing but true fear this time. They hurried past the man, hoping to get away from those ruby death eyes.

Lucas tried to move fast as well, but the sudden jostle of people caused him to lose his balance and trip over a rock. He fell to the ground, and the boxes he was carrying crashed to the ground, the contents spilling everywhere. A couple of people tripped over the rocks and they too fell to the ground with their boxes spilling contents as well.

"YOU IDTHEIT!" The man roared. Everybody froze fearfully as the fat biker came crashing toward Lucas. "Weth arth ya dothei?" Lucas got up in a four-legged position and didn't say anything. His whole body was shaking from what's coming up next.

SWIP! The long whip slashed across Lucas' back, causing him to fall to the ground again. A couple of people shriek with terror. The man didn't stop; his arms move up and down, sending the whip down on Lucas until the man's arm couldn't lift another finger.

Lucas was dazed from pain. His vision was turning black and he was starting to fall unconscious.

"What's going on?" A voice asked from behind. Lucas heard a couple of gasps and the sound of boots coming toward him.

"Kaptin!" the man said with a tone of oily politeness.

_Kaptin?_ Lucas wondered before he realized that the man was trying to say 'captain,' and the word 'captain' was the rank for the upper three of the organization. It must be one of them.

"What's going on Rutherboard?" The woman's voice asked again.

"Seupit kid reuin the lein," Rutherboard said. He pointed to the fallen boxes and rocks scattered across the floor. Lucas looked up dazed. He lost so much blood that his vision prevented him from seeing the captain's face. All he could see was the shadow of the woman towering over him.

"Hmm, stupid kid," the woman said, "Very well. Get everybody to clean up this mess. I'll handle this boy."

"Yesh meam!" Rutherboard saluted and ordered the others to get back to work. The woman pulled Lucas so she could see his bruised up face. Lucas groaned weakly through his half-opened eyes.

"You look familiar," the lady said, inspecting Lucas. Lucas could clearly see the lady's red hair which was the color of the blood like the one dripping down his face. "Ah yes, you're that kid whose father we had to deal with." Lucas' whole body received a huge shock from those words. _What did she just say?_

"Oh, surprise," the lady smiled and licked her lips, "Well, I can see why. You were put into an orphanage at such a young age, I'm not surprise you don't even know your father."

"Where... where is he?" Lucas demanded. His voice was so hoarse and weak that the woman laughed at his question.

"Gone," the lady grinned, "Though I must say, you do look exactly like him, only younger." Lucas winced at the loud woman's voice. She put his face close to her. "Your father was such an annoying guy. Seeing his face again through you ticks me off." She brought Lucas' face even closer. "Wait till you see what I have in store for you."

**Author's Notes**

Well, now what do we have here? A connection to DPTT! :D

Also, I would like to meet Ray – an OC sent by **N the puppet**. Don't worry, Ray will be back and we get to more about his mysterious past. XP

Remember, if you want to send an OC, please read the guidelines I have posted and send it to me.

Well, can't really thank everybody individually but thank you to those who have reviewed.

I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	4. Sector 46

**Disclaimer: If I could own Pokemon, I would change the world for the better good. Sadly I don't.**

Hey guys and what do you know? Another chapter! Yay! Sorry for being slow but my teachers were kind enough to give me tests week after week. Just something they want to do before the Thanksgiving break.

Anyways, the chapter is kind of short but there is plot development.

No Leo though or any new OCs. However, we get to meet another new character whom I'm pretty sure you all remember from DP story (Cough cough).

Anyways, enjoy!

**Chapter 4:**

"Bah," Nova spat to the ground at Justin's feet, "Where are the new recruits?" Justin tried very hard to keep his cool and remained silent. His heart felt as though it was on fire, like he wanted to punch the old man right there and teach him some manners. But Nova was not someone to mess with despite the height difference and physical appearance.

Justin met Nova right in the front of the old man's room. Of course, the sour man had his room under tight security. No one can go in or out except Nova. Might as well have a huge sign that says, "Enter and you'll die."

. "They're with the other members coming along," Justin said. Since there were new recruits, it was best to go into the tunnel with more experienced people and split up into groups. There were many people around with nothing much to do so finding volunteers was easy. "All of them are waiting out in the front."

"Hmph," Nova said, "Then what are we standing around here for?"

_Standing? _Justin thought as he eyed Nova's wheelchair, _more like sitting in your case_. Nova's electrical wheelchair hummed as it spurted forward in jerky motions over the rocky road and toward the direction Justin had mentioned. Nova wasn't even friendly enough to slow down his pace, forcing Justin to jog just to keep up. The dark tunnel seemed to be engulfing the entire place making it look as though the room was smaller than it really was. Although there was no clock around or even real sunlight, Justin knew that it was almost night time.

Up ahead, there was the sound of a group of people talking as though they were making a friendly conversation. Finally, the darkness stopped and the lone torch revealed the group that was large enough to crowd around and block the path. The older ones all had their backs against the walls and looked grim. Their tattered clothes and heavy scars on their skin showed that they have been through quite a few life or death situations. These were one of the oldest members of the Resistance. Of course, Nova was the oldest of them all but they joined up with him as soon as Nova formed this group of rebels. Around these five people were three young recruits that had recently joined up. They were in their early teens but they had the same bitter look on their faces – looks for revenge.

"Nova!" A woman named Irene called out. She had ugly large scars across her entire ivory face, making her look disfigured. In her mouth was a toothpick that moved up and down as she talked. She had a tattoo that read 'Life sucks, get over it' on her arm. However, Irene can be nice despite being a tough tomboy. "We were all shock to hear that you were going to be joining the new recruits as well."

"Is that why you all volunteered to help out as well?" Nova asked sarcastically before giving a spasm of coughs. If there was nothing more than Nova hate, it was pity. He threw a hand grenade at someone before just because they said they felt sorry for him. The five adults grinned sheepishly while the young recruits stared at Nova as though he was some sort of god. Justin knew what was going on through those little kids' minds. The honor to have the head to lead their very first mission was beyond comprehension.

"That's not it Nova. We just want to take care of Justin, our little baby!" One of the muscular and in his late forties man waved his only arm (the other one was gone as though blown off) as though to welcome the seventeen year old boy into their group. Justin knew most of these people since he had been living in the Resistance since he was seven. Of course, they always treated him and still do as the 'baby' of their little group.

"I'm not a baby anymore Larry," Justin said, sighing in embarrassment. The other older Resistance people chuckled though, finding this amusing. Justin sighed in frustration. Why in the world did he have to come along if so many more experienced members were going?

"Enough," Nova said, not smiling at all and immediately everybody quelled down, "Is everybody here now?"

"Heh, almost everybody," Larry said grimly and eyed Justin slyly, "You're little Aipom wanted to come too and was looking all over for you."

"Aipom?" Justin repeated, confused, but his answer was immediately answered by a squealing voice.

"Justinnnn!"

"Oh no," Justin muttered and slap his hand on his head. He braced for impact and sure enough a small human body came crashing down onto his shoulders and wrapped its arms around his neck. It turned out to be a young nine year old girl with short black hair. Justin almost stumbled and was very close into looking 'uncool' in front of everyone.

"Get off Yuma," Justin groaned as he tried to pry the girl's arm off of his neck. She had pretty good grip for a nine year old. The little girl finally let go and Justin turned to face her. The little girl was wearing a black sleeveless tank top and short black pants. Surprisingly, her skin was dark tan as though she was living in a tropical region for most of her life. She had a headband tied around her forehead with black Murkrow feathers stuck out from behind. Wrapped around her neck was a white scarf. Of course, she was wearing black with white laces sneakers that looked more like boots and went up to her knees. Of course, her cute little status was deceiving. She was carrying at least four different weapons that were hidden in her clothing.

"Justin, please, please, please, let me go!" Yuma said with her giant Meowth like grin on her face. Her amber (almost yellow) eyes brightened up with excitement.

"Why are you asking me?" Justin said, looking annoyed as he run his hand through his hair. _Why is she always around when I don't want her to? Which is every time._

"Cuz, I know you'll let me if I ask you!" Yuma grinned which Justin replied with a scowl. Ever since she could learn how to walk and talk, Yuma had been sticking to Justin like a part of a Magneton. She always followed Justin around and found any ways to annoy him. Of course, she annoyed everybody else as well.

"No," Justin said firmly, not wanting to give in to Yuma's demands every time, "You're too young." He turned his back against Yuma but unfortunately it made things worse – or at least more annoying.

"No, I'm not," Yuma said, pouting. "Yesterday, you told me to stop acting like a kid. Therefore, I'm not a kid anymore but an adult!" She fell onto the ground and pounded her fist and feet against the ground in a tantrum rage. "No fair! Why does everybody get to go except me? No fair, no fair, NO FAIR!"

"You're still acting like a kid," Justin said, sweat dropping in embarrassment and annoyance. Larry and the other adult Resistance people snorted with laughter at Justin's dilemma. Nova, however, wasn't pleased. He was already getting a migraine from listening to "No fair, no fair!" like a broken record.

"Justin, bring her on the mission," Larry interrupted, "If we leave her here, who knows what else she'll do." Justin winced at Larry's words. The last time Yuma didn't get what she want, she almost send the entire base into insanity.

"Pluezzzzzz!" Yuma said, giving Justin her usual sad cute look.

"Sigh." Justin knew he was going to regret what he was going to say, "All right, but –"

"All right!" Yuma said, getting up and grinning at her accomplishment. "Don't worry about me! I won't disappoint you!" She looked at the entire group and gave a peace sign while showing off her giant grin. The new recruits were looking at Yuma with some sort of jealousy. Yuma was definitely too young to go on a mission even as simple as this. She was obviously spoiled when Justin was around. Nova didn't respond but simply glared so steely at Yuma that the young girl's smile faltered. Immediately, she cowered behind Justin who seemed to be the only one able to stand up to this stare.

"You better not," Nova stated in a deadly voice before turning his attention to Justin, "She is your responsibility." With that, he moved ahead. The wheelchair jostled a bit, causing Nova to get into another fit of coughing spasm. The new recruits obediently followed Nova. Larry gave a shrug toward Justin before leaving with the others, leaving Justin to deal with Yuma.

"Phew, that was close," Yuma sighed, "He scares me a lot." Justin, however, merely gave a glare as well.

"You always get yourself in more trouble than you should," Justin muttered as he walked after the group. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"So?" Yuma said grinning as she started to follow behind, "As long as I can hang out with you, I don't care." There was a long pause before Yuma spoke up again.

"Justin?"

"Hmm?" Justin said.

"Thanks for letting me come along."

"Yeah," Justin said, feeling embarrassed, "whatever."

…

"Welcome to Sector 46," Irene grinned as she removed the toothpick from her mouth and motioned the others to stay low and quiet. All of them were in a tunnel that was so small, they all had to crouch down a bit and walk in a straight line. Of course, the shorter people (like Nova and Yuma) didn't have to endure to painful bending over situation like everybody else did. The only source of light emitted from Nova's chair and the only thing Justin could really see was that their path was blocked by a large boulder – or is it? Irene pounded her fist against the giant boulder and there was a soft rumbling before light slowly started to pour in like a moon turning from a crescent into a full.

Of course, once everybody's eyes were accustomed to the sudden light, there wasn't really much to see. It was simply an enlarged tunnel with rocks everywhere. The bright light was now dimmed and turned out to be from small light bulbs hanging from the top. The stench of decay and dirt filled the air. It was an ugly place, but the new recruits were acting as though they just came across a large hidden room filled with treasure – their first mission and their first time out into the open space. Even Yuma was acting excited and would've immediately run away to play in this new playground had not Justin held her by her shirt and lift her high in the air.

"We're not here to play," Justin stated flatly. Yuma pouted but nodded in resignation and Justin let her down.

"But I wanna exploreeee," Yuma whined, "like a ninja."

"You know, I thought ninjas were supposed to be quiet," Justin muttered as Nova (who had difficulty moving about in the rugged terrain) turned to face the group of people. All the new recruits were murmuring with excitement while the older members of the Resistance recounted the many times they had explored here in the past.

"Silence," Nova said and the room immediately quelled, "Despite the deserted looks, we're on enemy terrain. I want the new recruits to split up and join no more than older members. You are here to learn the basic concepts of…"

"What is that noise?" Larry interrupted holding his only hand up and everybody around (except Nova) flinched. They all fell silent and sure enough there were footsteps.

"Deserted?" Yuma asked timidly, but no one answered.

"Hide!" Irene hissed and immediately grabbed Nova's wheel chair and (with surprising strength) carried him to the nearest pile of large rocks to hide. Everybody else scattered as well. Justin picked Yuma up like a small football and hid behind a large pile of coal with Larry and one of the young female recruits. The footsteps grew louder and the tunnel brighter. Justin didn't dare to look over and instead listen to the voices.

"Man, this is a dead end job," a voice said. There a crunching noise from the sound of boots. And (it might be Justin's ears) the sound of something being dragged across the ground. "What's the point of being here?"

"Shut up," another voice hissed, "we're only here to dispose of the body. No point in burying it." Justin's eyes widened with shock and he turned to Larry who was also confused. Yuma and the female recruit flinched in fear by the sound of 'body.' The sound of the boots stopped and for a moment, Justin could feel the cold fear creeping up against his neck.

"Sector 46," the first voice said, "Why is this place deserted?"

"Not suppose to be," the second voice grunted, "Suppose to guard this place but people have been saying this place has been haunted. All the ghosts of the dead live here."

"Eekk! In that case, I don't want to hang out here longer than need be." With that there was the sound of boots going back to where they came from, echoing and becoming fainter. The sound of something dragging didn't accompany them.

"Is it safe yet?" Yuma whispered, getting up.

"No," Larry said, pulling her back down, "Rule one in hiding – stay at your position for an extra five minutes to make sure you can safely leave. In case if the enemy suspects something." Justin knew that five minutes was more like five years for Yuma who started to pout and frown impatiently. Finally, Yuma couldn't hold in any longer and peeked out of the pile of rock.

"Yuma!" Justin hissed.

"It's a boy!" Yuma said, forgetting to keep her voice down. Justin looked up startled. So the body was a young boy? Why go through all that trouble? "And he's hurt!" Without hesitation she jumped over the pile of rocks.

"Wait, Yuma!" Larry called out but it was already too late. Justin groaned in frustration. Nova was definitely going to kill him later. He too got out and saw Yuma crouching over a small boy with scraggly clothes and short black hair. Soon, it was too much for anybody and everybody slowly got out from their own hiding spot.

"Holy Arcecus."

…

"Is he dead?" Lucas stirred in his death sleep. _Who was that? _Lucas could taste gravel and rocks and realized that he was facing the ground. His whole body felt like it was on fire. He opened his bruised eyes ever so slightly and saw the dark outline of many boots surrounding him. There was a small person crouching next to him.

"Naw, he's still breathing," a young voice, probably a girl's, said. Lucas dimly was aware of two fingers pressed on his wrist, checking for pulse.

"What happened to him?" Somebody whistle in amazement as they continued to inspect Lucas. "This one looked worse off than the rest of us when we were found."

"Judging by the marks on his back, he looked like he was tortured," someone muttered. Lucas felt his stomach rumbling. There was a silence and the girl's voice added, "And starved to death." There were couple of laughter, but they were immediately turned into unconvincing coughs.

"Come on, change of plans," a man with a very hoarse voice that sounded as though his voice box had been ripped out of his throat said, "let's take him in." There was a sigh and Lucas felt himself being lifted from the ground.

"Even though he was starved to death, he still weighs a ton," a young male teenager voice groaned. It was obviously by the sound of the teenager's voice that he was the one carrying Lucas.

"Shut up and walk," the man with the hoarse voice snapped, "we must hurry before they find us. If they do..." The man didn't say anymore. There was tension in the air and the people moved in quick and fast pace. Lucas immediately felt himself swallow in the state of unconsciousness again and heard no more.

**Author's Notes**

Another connection from DP! Well, now we know who those people were who took good care of Lucas. :D

Meet Yuma from DP! Woo!

The next few chapters will be more development instead of fighting since I need to introduce the Resistance a bit more.

Anyways, I altered some of the dialogue from the DP part just to fit in more to this story but it should be about the same.

Remember, I'm still taking OCs so if you're interested send me one.

Let's thank my reviewers now! Finally!

…

**Jarkes**

**Light-Sakura**

**N the puppet**

**Banana**

**SagaAuraMana**

**Sparky**

…

All right, that's it from me. DP story is still being worked on but should be up in a week or two, depending on my schedule. Please be patient.

See you all in the next chapter!

**-JapanDreamer**


	5. Stun Guns, Knives, what Else is New?

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon**

I'm on a role! :D

I can't believe how much I've updated in this past week!

Thank you for waiting patiently and enjoy! Important news at the bottom.

**Chapter 5:**

"I found a new playmate! I found a new playmate!" Yuma sang and grinned at Justin as he carried the small boy on his shoulder. Of course, 'small' seemed to be the wrong choice of word. The boy, despite his thin appearance, was heavy and Justin knew that by morning, his shoulder was going to be stiff and sore. Still, there was something about the kid that made Justin curious. They were all back at headquarters and the first order Nova gave was to Justin. _Take the kid into a room and call the doctor to tend to the small tiny boy. _Of all people, it was Justin. He knew he shouldn't have been the one to volunteer to carry the boy.

Justin took another glance at the unconscious boy. He had jet black sort hair that seemed soft and curled around his face. His cubby baby cheeks gave him an appearance of an infant. Justin noticed the long welts across the boy's arm. There was a knife mark on the boy's cheek which had dried up blood surrounding it. Justin couldn't help but feel pity. The poor kid must have a rough life before.

"Do you think I should practice my knife throwing or archery?" Yuma said, breaking through Justin's trail of thoughts.

"Yuma, he is not your target practice. And, speaking of which, neither is the rest of the group."

"Aww," Yuma pouted, "no one else wants to play with me though…" She sighed and looked at the ground – dejected.

"And why do you think that is," Justin muttered. Last time, Yuma blindfolded herself and almost ninja star several people to death. She was the worst trouble maker ever and the most dangerous one at that. The only reason why she wasn't out doing missions was because of her age but almost everybody in the Resistance joked how Yuma was Team Galactic's secret weapon and was going to destroy them all.

"Hey, Justin!" Justin turned around to see that it was Larry, who was waving energetically with his good arm. Even to this day, Justin still found it strange to see that the man had only one arm. The void where the other arm was supposed to be gave a chilling effect. Larry looked around to make sure that they were alone but of course; a dark tunnel wasn't really a good place to hide or eavesdrop other people in the first place. Especially, if there were torches everywhere. "Listen, I got to go on another mission so can you give this to Irene?" Larry said, handing a small envelope to Justin. Immediately, Justin realized what Larry was asking. And though Larry asked like it was no big deal, Justin looked at the letter as though it was a dangerous ticking bomb.

"I'm not your love bird messenger!" Justin said angrily, "Why don't you for once send it to her instead of sneaking it and hiding it in her personal belongings? And more importantly, don't put my name on it! Irene laughed at me for a week because of that!"

"But she is so scaryyyy," Larry said in a whiny voice and jumped up and down. When Justin didn't give a slightest hint of compassion, Larry sighed in resignation. "Why does such a beautiful lady have to carry so many stun guns?"

_Because of people like you_, Justin thought grimly wondering how a forty year old man can still act like a high school love sick teenager. Yuma had a puzzle look on her face as though she was trying to figure out how a disfigured face like Irene's can still be considered beautiful.

"I have a mission," Larry said, "I have no idea if - I mean, when I'll come back." Justin didn't miss Larry's change of words and fell silent. Larry almost didn't live when he lost his arm during that mission. The man was in critical condition when brought in and was a messy sight to see. Ever since, Larry took huge value of his own life and though it was rumored from that he had a crush on Irene, he never openly admit it until after and only to Justin and Yuma (Well, Yuma spied on Larry telling Justin but the little girl promised not to tell.)

"Tch, fine," Justin said, swiping the letter from Larry's hand and stuffing the letter into his pocket, "Just make sure to come back in one piece." Larry grinned at Justin's kind hearted attitude.

"Thanks man. I owe you one," Larry said, ruffling Justin's hair. "I'll see you later then." Larry walked off in the other direction, leaving Justin and Yuma alone again.

"Tch," Justin said again, fixing his hair with his free hand, "He is always treating me like a kid."

"Well compare to his age, you kind of are," Yuma said, grinning. "After all, you're the _baby_ of the family."

"Yeah? Well compare my age to yours, you're the baby as well as well," Justin said as he continued to walk down the tunnel. "And don't have anything better to do than following me?"

"Well," Yuma said, with a sly grin on her face, "I was wondering since I have no one to play with, can you -?"

"No," Justin stated flatly before Yuma could ask her question.

"What, why notttt?" Yuma pouted. She has been doing that quite a bit lately.

"I'm already helping Larry out," Justin groaned, "I don't need to put myself in another life or death situation again. Irene knows how to use those stun guns." Justin winced as he remembered the last time that woman used it on him.

"Oh come on!" Yuma said, trying to climb up on Justin's back like she was some sort of Aipom, "I promise not to use knives this time."

"You're nine years old!" Justin said, annoyed, "You shouldn't be playing with knives in the first place!"

"But they're so shinyyyyy," Yuma protested.

"NO!" Justin said. There a soft moan that made both of them jump and fall silent. It came from the boy on Justin's shoulder. _Shoot,_ Justin thought, his heart pounding a hundred beats faster than before. He had totally forgotten about the boy.

"Come on, let's go," Justin said, hoisting the boy more comfortably on his shoulder. "We should take care of this guy first."

"Fine," Yuma grumbled, "But I'm still going to use my knives!"

…

She walked through the tunnel as though she was a ghost. Not a single sound could be heard from her. She breathed in the frosty air that surrounded around her. Cold as ice. People pass by her but they didn't see her. Of course, as soon as she was almost out of sight, they would feel a nasty chill running up their spine. Then, they would realize she was there. She felt the people around her not by sight but by sound and by feeling from the air.

She was blind.

Although she always ignored people, this time she was looking for someone. Of course, that person wasn't in the office.

_The doctor? Oh, they found an injured person in the extra room. You should find her there._ She remembered how the person was uneasy when speaking to her but ignored him. She continued to walk silently, making her way through as she counted softly in her head of each door she passed.

…

"He seems to be okay now," Doctor Aria said as she checked to make sure the bandages weren't too loose. "He just needs to get some rest, that's all." The pink hair girl got up and turned to face Justin and Yuma who were both sitting on the boulder that was supposed to be the 'chair'.

Doctor Aria was in her mid twenties and was majestically beautiful that it would be a shock to many to learn that she was a doctor and not something like a florist. Her presence in the room seemed to make the place glow and seemed less dingy than it was. She had long red eyelashes that curled into a single strand and creamy color skin that was smooth. Her pink braided hair slowly turned to an aqua blue color as the hair went down her back. She had on a plain lab coat and next to her were her instrument tools – bandages, small bottles of medicine, etc.

"Well that's great," Justin said and sighed a breath of relief. Yuma sighed in relief as well.

"Well, anyways, now that I'm here, I should give you two back your Pokemon," Aria said, taking out two Poke balls out of her pocket and handed them to their respected owners. Sorry it took so long."

"What?" Justin said, a little bit uncomfortable at Aria's politeness, "its okay Aria. Besides, you probably have other patients to take care of."

"Still, a doctor should be on time," Aria said, giving a soft smile, "I should be checking up on your Pokemon everyday but with the schedule…" Aria fell silent for a moment before shaking her head. "I just hope I can find an apprentice soon." Yuma wasn't listening to Aria and opened her Poke ball. Out popped a blue Surskit whose beady eyes blinked at the unaccustomed darkness.

"Hiya, Surskit!" Yuma said grinning. The little bug Pokemon jumped up and down with happiness at seeing its owner and quickly climbed up onto Yuma's shoulder.

"Surskit has been missing you a lot," Aria said, smiling as the two cuddled against each other. "I have to go now, but let me know if there are any problems."

"Yeah, sure," Justin said and watched Doctor Aria leave before opening his Poke ball. Out popped a red Scizor who stretched its arms and pincers. "Hey Scizor, how are you?" The silent Pokemon replied with a stern gaze and Justin nodded in approval. "At least someone knows the best way to reply."

"Hey," Yuma said, "Can we go now?"

"You can, I'm going to watch over this kid until he wakes up," Justin said, pointing at the boy who was now sleeping more peacefully than before.

"Well, in that case," Yuma turned her head to the boy, "YO! WAKE UP!"

…

Doctor Aria was walking down the hall and in deep thought when she noticed someone in front of her.

"Ah it's you," Aria said, bowing slightly. The person didn't respond. Instead, she removed the piece of cloth that was on her arm. A nasty black crust of dry blood covered the entire arm. Aria's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh dear, that is going to need disinfection." She immediately grabbed her bag and realized that the bottle wasn't there."

"Sorry," Aria said to the person, "I left the bottle in the patient's room. If you wait for a moment-" But the person didn't respond and already disappeared. "Really now," Aria sighed, "She always goes off by herself. Aria shook her head and headed back to her office.

…

She walked past the doctor and down the hall. She should've known the doctor would do something like that. The tunnel seemed to feel cooler as she walked down the hall. Passing door and door, she finally came across the one she was looking for. From inside she could hear a young girl screaming. It didn't take a genius to know who it was.

Carefully, she pushed the door open. The wooden door that usually made creaking noise was silent at her touch. Then she walked into the room with the door silently closing behind her. Like ghost.

…

"YO! Wake up Snorlax!" Lucas groaned and opened one of his eyes. He looked around him and found himself in a dark cell like room. There were no windows and the whole compound was built out of rocks. A small lantern was hanging from the ceiling, leaving large shadows in the room. He struggled to a sitting position on the dirty bed he was on and noticed three people staring at him. All three of them were on a large boulder, in the room, sitting quite at ease.

One was a girl, about 9, with short black hair that went to her chin. She had a long leather like bandana tied around her head and two black Murkrow's feathers sticking out from the back of her hair. Her dark tan skin almost made her impossible to see and her catlike yellow eyes gleamed through the dark. The girl had a wide happy catlike grin on her face, as if she didn't have a care in the world. She wore a white scarf around her neck, and her black sleeveless tank top and short tight black pants suggested that she was a ninja, or something. She had small daggers on the side of her black belt along with two small knives, about the size of a small child's hand, dangling from her ears as earrings. She wore small black boots that went to her ankle. Her upper arms were wrapped with black cloth as well as her knees. Judging by the small long thin bulges underneath the cloths, Lucas was guessing that there were more weapons underneath there. On her shoulder was a Surskit which seemed to glare through the darkness.

Next to the ninja looking girl was a teenage boy, 17, with long blond hair that seemed to be layered. It went down to his neck. His ears were pierced with small diamond looking stubs. The boy's black eyes looked calm and relaxing as if he was calculating your every move and was always one step ahead of you. He had on a chain necklace attached to a fancy looking sword shape resting on his chest. He was wearing an unbuttoned white short sleeve jacket with blue stripes on the sleeves. Underneath his jacket, the teenager had on a white shirt and blue waterproof pants that matches the color of the stripes on his shirt. He had on worn out black sneakers with dirty white laces. On the side of his left arm, Lucas could see a long thick jagged white scar that went seemed as though someone tried to slice the guy's arm vertically down. Next to him was a Scizor that sat sideways away from Lucas. The red Pokemon's eyes were closed as if it was meditating, ignoring its surroundings.

Behind the two people was a large shadow that Lucas couldn't quite depict, although he could tell that it was a girl because he could see long hair moving to and fro.

"About time!" the ninja girl grinned, "man, you snore and talk a lot in your sleep!" She laughed at Lucas' dazed expression.

"Please Yuma," the teenager boy said, sighing, "Don't treat our guest so rudely. And don't talk so loudly." He rubbed his head as if Yuma's voice was giving him a migraine. The girl in the shadow nodded in agreement but didn't say anything. Lucas stared wide eye at the people.

"Okay, fine," Yuma frowned, sticking out her tongue, "I just wanted to liven things up a bit."

"Who are you-?" Lucas winced as a sharp pain slashed his stomach. He involuntarily clutched his stomach and noticed that his chest was bandaged up.

"You gotten beaten up a lot," Yuma explained as she watched Lucas, "I'm surprise you managed to stay alive after all that."

Lucas suddenly remembered what had happened to him the last time he was fully conscious. He felt around his stomach, arms and neck and noticed that all of the places where his wounds were are now wrapped up and bandaged. He touched his face and felt a bandaged on the cheek where the knife slashed him.

"You've been through quite a bit," the teenage boy remarked, "We did the best we could to help, but with the limited supplies we have..." The boy waved his hand as if he was doing a disappearing trick with the air. "Anyways, what matters now is that you're safe."

"So, who are you guys?" Lucas asked again.

"Ah, sorry," the teenage boy apologized, "I forgot to introduce us. This here is Yuma as you already know." He pointed to the tan ninja girl next to him.

"Please to meet ya!" the girl smile, "Call me 'Yummy'! It's my secret code name." The teenager rolled his eyes with annoyance but continued.

"And I'm Justin," the teenager boy pointed to himself, "what's yours?"

"I'm Lucas. Lucas Diamond," Lucas replied, a little confused at the fact why Justin didn't introduce the girl behind him.

"You know your last name?" Yuma said surprise, but not in a questioning way, "Wow! Most of us here don't even remember our first." Lucas shrugged.

"I remember reading it off of my orphanage profile," Lucas muttered, remembering that day when he snuck in the office, "so, um who's that behind you?" Justin and Yuma looked behind him for a moment as if he didn't know there was someone behind him. Yuma's grin immediately melted away and fell silent immediately.

"Oh, um," Justin looked nervously at the girl, "She is..." The girl, who ignored the awkward looks from her companions, jumped off the boulder and landed in front of Lucas where he could see her better.

The girl's long white hair swayed to and fro as if there was wind in the room. She wore black spaghetti strap shirt and blue jeans that went down to her knees. She was the same age as Lucas, only shorter. Her pale skin seemed to glow faintly under the light in the dark room. Purple cloth was wrapped around at the arch of her bare feet. On her arms and legs were many cuts and bruises as if each had a story to tell about the things she suffered in her past. The one most noticeable was a fresh one on her shoulder with dry black blood hardened on her arm. Her eyes bore straight onto Lucas'. Her eyes were milky color and large thick white scratch marks were all around her eyes as if someone took a chunk out of her skin.

She was blind.

"My name is Assassin."

**Author's Notes**

Aw man, I love Justin. He's always going out and helping others even though he denies it. Lol.

Well, we have another connection with DP. I think there will be a lot of this in the next few chapters. Don't worry, OCs will start showing up in the next chapter.

Speaking of which, I will stop accepting OCs by the next update. The next update should be sometime this month if not early of the next. The OC guidelines will be removed from my site so if you want to submit one, do it as quickly as possible. Now I know that some of you will probably be busy with holidays and stuff and won't have time to write an OC by the deadline. Therefore, PM me or review to me, letting me know ahead of time that you want to submit one.

Let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

**Light-Sakura**

**Jarkes**

**N the puppet**

**SagaAuraMana**

…

I hope you guys have a good holiday. DP story should be updated next.

See you in the next chapter!

**-JapanDreamer**


	6. How Many People are We Dealing With Now?

**Disclaimer: Own Pokemon. Pffttt.**

Hey guys! An update for the New Year! Sorry for the late update but hey, dealing with this many stories, it's a wonder that I even made it. Lol.

Anyways, we have finally got some OCs here. **N the puppet**'s Ray, **Sparky**'s Fuuta, **Light-Sakura**'s Ai, and of course, my OCs. Don't worry for those who still haven't had their OCs out yet. I've pretty much planned out when each character will appear so they are sure to come.

Bad news, school is starting for me again really soon so updates (once again) will be slower.

Kind of short chapter but hopefully still long enough to enjoy.

**Chapter 6:**

"That was scary," Yuma gasped as the white hair girl left with the bottle of anesthetic, "I hate it when she does that." Justin took a deep breath of relief as well. The very chill that was sent up his spine when he realized Assassin came into the room had not stop. As quickly and quietly as she had come, Assassin took a bottle that Doctor Aria left behind and left the room. So much for 'quick introduction'.

"Sorry?" Lucas said, watching the two look as though they had just been doused with a bucket of icy cold water and then been told that they were going to die. He didn't react at all at Assassin's bizarre appearance and seemed to be more confused than scared. "Do you know her?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing," Justin said, recovering first, "It was just a shock. That's all." Lucas gave another puzzled look, but Justin immediately tried to look cheerful and changed to subject. "Anyways, do you feel better now? I apologize for Yuma. She is anxious to have you wake up."

"Well, duh!" Yuma said, sticking out her tongue. She was back to her impish self. "It is so boring to just wait here with nothing to do." Her Surskit had the same expression on its face.

"Whatever," Justin sighed as he got up. He took out his Poke ball (Lucas noticed that it had quite a bit of scratches on it) and returned his Scizor who was still in its meditating state. "Get some rest Lucas. Once you're feeling better, we can discuss more about your future."

"My future?" Lucas repeated confused.

"Whatttt?" Yuma groaned as she returned her Surskit into her Poke ball, "You're letting him sleep again?"

"Sleep is the best way to heal the body," Justin replied, rolling his eyes, "You should know that from training." Yuma pouted but didn't say anything. Justin then turned back to Lucas. "Well, we're going to help you so we kind of need your cooperation in a sense. Don't worry about it too much though." Justin paused for a moment before adding, "I'll send in food for you later." With that he opened the door and walked out, Yuma tailing behind him.

"Buy, buy," Yuma grinned, waving her hand before the door slammed shut, leaving Lucas all by himself in the room. He was suppose to be scared, yet why wasn't he? It was as though his mind already decided to trust these two. But there was still a bit of uneasiness inside of him still. Lucas closed his eyes for a moment, wondering how his future will be played now.

…

"You're pretty quiet," Justin said to Yuma who hasn't spoken a single word since they left Lucas' room. "Something about Lucas?"

"Mmm," Yuma said, shaking her head definitely but was still quiet. Justin frowned for a moment. Normally, it took forever to get Yuma to shut up. But here she was, perfectly silent.

"He is a strange guy," Yuma said quietly before looking up at Justin, "Kind of like you."

"Me? How?" Justin said, surprised. Yuma didn't elaborate and remained silent again. "Hey! I'm actually encouraging you to talk now so why don't you elaborate?"

"Justin," Justin jerked his head around and saw a figure that whose face he couldn't see because he was hiding in the shadows.

"Oh, it's you," Justin said, recognizing the voice. The shadowy figure didn't bother to move so that Justin could get a better look at him. Justin knew that this guy wasn't waiting for him for a friendly conversation. Something was up. "What is it?"

"We have a problem," the guy said and paused for a moment before explaining, "It's Ray."

"What?" Justin said, panicking. If it's about Ray then that means… "Has Nova-?"

"Not yet," the voice said before adding, "But he is going to." Without hesitation Justin ran past the figure and down into the dark tunnel. He pushed past people without having time to say 'sorry.' Finally, he reached the same steel doors he had opened just hours earlier. After swiping his card, he opened the door to see Nova towering over a fallen Ray who was still attached with wires. Thrown to the ground was Ray's headphone. Justin realized that the blue stabilizers that surrounded Ray were spinning out of control. The computers around them were crackling with energy. There were some that already had broken screens.

_ Oh no… Ray has become unstable._

"Get up," Nova growled. The red hair boy panted and said something that was inaudible to Justin's ear but not for Nova. "GET UP YOU BLASTED FOOL!" This time Nova took out from his bag a syringe – it was filled with clear liquid.

"NOVA!" Justin yelled and pushed the old man away before he could inject the dosage to the nineteen year old boy. "Stop!" Nova, with surprising strength, raised the syringe and was about to plunge it into Justin's frightened eye. Suddenly, a large 'Bang' sound came and blasted the steel door off its hinge. Then, just as fast, Justin found himself pushed violently away as though by a strong force and slammed against one of the computer screens. Nova was thrown back as well and out of his chair.

Justin got up and saw a man in his late twenties dressed in a black hooded raincoat. The man's muddy weathered boots suggested that he had just come back to headquarters and immediately rushed here. Black headphones were on top of his gold brown hair though no music could be heard from them right now. The man's eyes were slowly fading from blue to brown and his hand was raised as though he, with his mind, pushed Nova and Justin away from each other.

"Y-you," Justin said, coughing up blood.

"FUUTA!" Nova roared as he struggled to get back into his chair. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question." Fuuta said, staring at the man and the broken pieces of the syringe with a disgusted look on his face.

"Don't act like you're the leader of this group," Nova growled. Fuuta didn't flinch at the sight of the angry old man and calmly waited for the old man to come toward him. Justin immediately went over to Ray who was now slowly recovering.

"S-Sorry," Ray said to Justin who merely lifted the exhausted boy up and slowly carried the weak boy out of the room. "S-sorry." This time tears were running down Ray's face, but Justin knew that those would only last for only a minute or two. Ray was only capable of showing emotions during this time. After that, he was turned back into a lifeless robot.

"No need to sound like a broken record," Justin muttered but knew what the older boy was talking about. Ray sometimes, suffer from massive overload of work and when that happens, things get broken, especially electronic stuff. And typically, it was Justin or someone else with access to this room that had to come in and try to save Ray from Nova's extreme fury. However, this is the first time; Fuuta had tried to step in.

The man was never around, always on some sort of mission one after another. Justin knew why. Nova and Fuuta hated each other. Both were cold and intellectually gifted but their ideas clashed constantly. What those ideas were Justin had no idea. Unfortunately for Fuuta, Nova always won (usually due to age difference) and Fuuta was forced to do miserable and highly dangerous tasks. However, Fuuta was dangerous. His psychic ability was fearsome and no one dared to argue against him, not unless if they want their memories wiped off from the face of the earth.

If people thought Justin hated Nova, it was nothing like Fuuta's.

"Get the hell out of here," Nova growled, "You're not welcome here." Fuuta stared into the old man's eye as though he wanted to say something rather unpleasant but finally, the guy turned at his heel and left the broken down place. "And get him out of my sight," Nova spat at Justin. He didn't need to be told twice. At the threshold of the door, Justin took a quick glance back and saw Nova just sitting there, as though trying to calm down his anger that was still seething.

"What happened to the door?" Justin turned around to see Yuma and the shadowy figure that had warned him about Ray. Justin sighed in relief that the guy made sure that Yuma didn't follow Justin.

"Fuuta?" the guy asked and Justin nodded. The figure immediately came to Justin's sighed and helped carry the unconscious boy. There was a sudden rush of footsteps from each side and immediately, people surrounded them.

"Holy freak, I just heard -."

"Are you okay Justin?"

"Hey, does Nova need medication? If he keeps up like that, his heart will explode." No one seemed to have noticed the guy who had just warned Justin and maybe saved Ray's life.

"I need to go," the guy muttered to Justin and left Justin to take care of Ray again.

"Thanks Leo," Justin said, loudly enough for the guy to hear. The guy stopped and slowly turned his head toward Justin. Leo's soft black hair glittered in the light. Justin could just make out the large scar on the guy's face.

"For what?" Leo asked, staring at Justin with confusion as though he didn't understand the gratitude Justin was giving.

"Well, everything…"

…

"You guys really want to make me work overtime," Doctor Aria sighed to herself as she looked at the monitor which showed the steady heartbeat of Ray's heart. Ray was on top of the medical examination bed and was sound asleep. A couple of hours earlier, Justin dropped off the unconscious Ray and left, leaving Aria to deal with the problem.

"Is he okay?" Aria turned around and saw a sixteen year old girl wearing a blue kimono coming toward her. The girl had light blue layered hair that went down to her sides. Her side bangs were black at the very tip. The most unique thing about this girl was that she had straight pointed ears and a tail that looked like they belonged to a Glaceon. The girl's brown eyes were filled with nothing but apprehension.

"Ray is fine. I just did an EKG," Aria said, smiling. "He has a bit of a fever but it should be all right soon." Immediately, the girl raised the palm of her hand and placed it onto Ray's forehead. There was a soft fizzing sound like when ice touches a hot surface.

"Will that be okay?" the girl asked, as she removed her hand. Aria felt Ray's forehead which was burning hot before and now cool to feel.

"Of course Ai," Aria smiled, "Your powers is very handy."

"Sometimes I wish it was more often," Ai said, looking miserable. "I can't help you out here because of my temper."

"You care a lot about other people, especially our kind," Aria said as she recorded the information onto her notepad. Once she finished adding stuff she added, "That is not a flaw but strength."

"But the same thing could be for you," Ai protested. "The only differences are that you can keep your temper in check AND you care for anyone, not just your friends."

"You know," Aria said, putting her hands to her shoulder, with a mocking look on her face, "You should try to be a little more positive. It would definitely raise your spirit quite a bit. Right Assassin?" Ai's heart beat almost stopped immediately as she realized that behind Aria, there was a shadow figure that she had not realized earlier. The girl jumped off the bed she was on and gracefully but silently walked out the door.

Despite her natural powers, Ai found herself shivering inside as the blind girl passed her. If Ai was snow, then Assassin was a blizzard – deadly and dangerous. Ever since, she had been here, Ai had tried to be friendly to the girl but it was as though Assassin was also deaf and blind. The girl had no feelings for the people around her. If anything, she only considered them as associates.

"Shut up," the girl said to Aria and left. Ai felt her body slowly warm up and, though she knew it was wrong, sighed in relief that Assassin was gone.

"Next time, give me a warning," Ai said. "Even after so many years with her, you would think that people would get use to her suddenly popping out of nowhere."

"Well," Aria muttered, unaffected by Assassin's cold demeanor, "I definitely know what she is going to get for Christmas."

**Author's Notes**

For those who don't know what an EKG is, it is basically a recording of the heart rate. You need to wear wires and stuff.

Anyways, for those who don't know, I have started on a new story – **Black and White Memories**. Check it out if you want. I need to know if you like to see it continued or not. I have a poll up as well.

Let's thank my reviewers before we go now.

…

**Light-Sakura**

**N the puppet**

**SagaAuraMana**

…

Well, that's it from me.

See you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	7. He's Nat Going!

**Disclaimer: Can't own Pokemon even in my dreams. :(  
**

Another new chapter! Hooray! I'm so happy I managed to find time. :D Though it is kind of short…

I was in the mood for more PokeMorphs. I created a new one – Akira. Can you guess what his Pokemon he resembles? He won't be too important yet. Just thought I introduce him for now.

I would like to introduce **Gabite**'s OC (Nat).

Important news on the bottom. Check out my **Author Notes**.

**Chapter 7:**

Yuma was whistling happily when she walked into the doctor's room. It was quiet except for the beeping sound of the machines. Curtains were shut so that the patients behind them could get enough sleep without the unnecessary disturbances.

"Good morningggg!" Yuma yelled, happily, oblivious to her surroundings. "It's a beautiful day today!" Her voice sounded as though she was speaking through a large megaphone.

"Yuma shut up! It's four in the morning!" A male voice yelled from behind one of the curtains. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Why should I meanie?" Yuma said as she stuck out her tongue toward the curtain. She then muttered, "Go boil your head in hot sauce."

"I heard that!" The voice retorted back. "Why don't you come over here and I'll give you a good smack on the head!"

"Ha! Why should I come over there? Or are you too 'weak'?"

"Why you little-!" The other people were groaning now having been awoken by this yelling game. So much for 'Please do not disturb the patients' sign on the door.

"Yuma, please don't bother the patients. Most of them do have the ability to kill you," another voice said and Doctor Aria appeared from the back of the room. She looked tired as though she had not gotten a lot of sleep. Her pink hair seemed to be in a knotted mess. "Is there something you need?"

"Justin wanted me to check up on Ray!" Yuma said brightly, saluting proudly, "Is he doing okay?"

"He's fine. After a week, he'll be back on his feet," Aria said, smiling. "Though he needs sleep right now so why don't you come back later?"

"Awww," Yuma pouted but Aria pointed to the door.

"Come on, come back later in the morning. The other patients will be in a better mood. I promise."

"I wouldn't count on that!" the voice who argued with Yuma retorted back. A couple of other patients sniggered. Yuma stuck out her tongue before leaving in a huff. Aria chuckled and turned to the curtain.

"Akira, you should be a bit nicer to Yuma. She came all the way here just to make sure you are all okay." Aria moved to the stockroom to take out blankets and pillowcases.

"Pah, why are you defending her? She's human," the voice replied sounding sour. "I don't understand why you defend them. You're not like them. We are not like them. They don't understand what we've been through." There was a murmuring of agreement, but Aria merely looked sad.

"Does that give you reason to treat someone differently?" Aria asked. "What did she do to you personally to make you hate all humans?" There was an uneasy silence that was broken by the sound of footsteps coming in. Was it Yuma again? No, the footsteps were heavier and slower… Aria turned around to see a large Ursaring-like 16 year old guy with long brown hair towering over her. He had on a jean jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and combat boots. There was a dark crystal necklace around his neck. The look on his face showed that he was disgusted at his surroundings. His many battle scars on his worn out face made him look disfigured.

"Hello Nat," Doctor Aria said, her tone immediately sounded cold and distant. All the patients in the room fell silent. Some even peeked behind the curtains to see the frightening man. He was probably one of the toughest soldiers of the Resistance. He was a suspicious person but then again, his behavior was the same as most of the bitter people here. The air was turning pungent as the man stared at Doctor Aria as though she was some dirty trash. When he didn't say anything, Aria asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Nova wanted the Porygon 2 PM to get back to work…" the guy said, sounding as though he wasn't trying to breath in the 'contaminated' air in the room. He didn't even reply back to Aria's hello. "Like now." The whole room was deadly silent now. There was uneasiness immediately at the word 'Nova.' None of the patients here liked Nova. They were all indebted to him because he saved their lives but that's how far the extent of their friendship went.

"You're joking," Aria said, blankly, but Nat didn't look like he was. "Ray is still recovering and he's in no shape to get up much less move. His heart rate is still irregular and he needs to take his medication every two hours. I just sent a message to Nova a couple of hours ago."

"Well he overruled your orders and these are his," Nat said, sounding impatient, "Get the creature up now. I'm here to take it back." When Aria didn't respond, Nat moved toward the room but was blocked again by Aria.

"No," Doctor Aria said, crossing her hands in front of her chest. This didn't make much of a difference since Aria was still shorter than the towering Nat. "First of, his name is Ray. And second, I am the doctor here and until I say that he has recovered, Ray will not leave this room." Nat stared into Aria's eyes and grabbed her arm roughly to pull her closer to his face.

"You dare disobey the Resistance? Perhaps a doctor like you would need to be in a patient's bed to understand what I could do to you," Nat growled as Aria tried to push away from his grasp. There was a sudden swish from the curtains and the Nat found himself face to face with a very sharp yellow lightning shaped dagger that crackled with electricity. This was connected to a black thin tail which belonged to a rowdy looking sixteen year old with soft orange hair with yellow side bangs that went down to his cheeks which were slightly rosy red despite his pale skin. On his head was a pair of crescent shape ears. One of his arms was in a sling.

"Get out here now before I personally make sure you end up permanently in the hospital," Akira hissed angrily. There were more swish of curtains as the other patients came to back Akira up. One eighteen year old guy had purple spiky hair with a psycho look in his eyes with pale skin that made him look as though he could vanish like a ghost. He had his claw-like purple gloved hands up like a phantom. Another was a thirteen year old boy who had white hair with blue highlights and arms that were shaped in more like white wings though he still had hands. Another was a female who had nine white tails from her back that were large enough to make it look like some sort of pillow. She was breathing out smoke as though she was producing fire from her mouth.

Nat stared at Akira's angry yellow eyes before slowly letting go of Doctor Aria who immediately took a step back though didn't remove her eyes off of Nat. Akira slowly lowered his tail though the tip was still crackling with electricity. The guy turned to the door and stopped at the threshold to say, "Using your monster abilities to take advantage of humans… disgusting…" That did it. Akira jumped out of bed and would've punched the guy had Aria not grabbed him from behind. The others got out of their bed as well.

"Stay back!" Aria said warningly and the others stopped hesitantly. Akira's whole body was crackling with electricity now though it looked as though it pained him to do so.

"Bring it to the main computer room," Nat said, not paying a single attention to Akira's enraged face or the others'. "Or else." With that he left but the other patients remained where they were until the footsteps finally died. Akira pushed out of Aria's grasp and went back to sit on his bed.

"What did you do that for?" he snapped. Aria noticed that his body was shivering. Not good. His body's immune system was not strong enough to handle bolts of lightning.

"Akira, while I'm grateful that you defended me," Aria said, her eyes flashing dangerously at Akira for his rude comment, "What you did was reckless. Nova will punish you for what you did. Nat is not someone you want to mess with."

"This is why I hate humans," Akira said angrily as he kicked the wall. Plaster fell to the ground like little flakes of artificial snow. He would've punched it but he didn't want to risk his good hand. "Nobody appreciates our hard work. Look at Ray. He's still sick but no one takes into consideration of his health. And what about you Aria? How many souls have you saved yet none of them would even treat you with the same respect?" He stared over at the single curtain that was not open. Behind it was the soft beeping sound of the machine that read the heart beats of the patients.

"Akira, watch your tongue. Keep talking like that around people like the Nat and I won't be able to save you next time. I'll talk to Nova so please, go back to bed," Aria said, her tone was final, indicating that the discussion was over. The other patients grudgingly pulled the curtains back but Akira didn't move. Doctor Aria didn't seem to care much and went back to her computer while Akira sat there motionlessly.

"I'm sick and tired of this…" Akira finally muttered sounding sad for the first time. "I'm so sick and tired of this…" Aria closed her eyes and then got up to sit next to Akira. He didn't move away. Aria stroked the boy's hair as he sank and fell asleep onto her shoulder.

"I know," Aria sighed sadly. "I know…"

…

_A couple of hours later…_

"How old are you Lucas?" Justin asked the kid as the eight year old followed behind him obediently. Justin and Lucas were walking down the stony dungeon like underground route. It has been about two days since Lucas first came here and Justin was assigned to take care of him till today.

The hallway was dark but at least there were torches everywhere hanging on the side to keep the place just bright enough.

Justin, at first, felt embarrassed in babysitting such a little kid who kept asking questions but still, Lucas managed to give him a laugh or two which is a big deal, especially with what was happening now. Justin turned to look at Lucas' appearance.

Lucas was wearing a black t-shirt that looked as though it belonged to someone else and small kid cargo pants. Strangely enough, despite his raggedy appearance, Lucas' hair managed to be smooth down and clean as though he combed it thoroughly. And as usual, Lucas had a big goofy grin on his face. Every time there was someone was passed them, Lucas would show his grin and say 'hello' despite the silent reply.

Justin felt bad for Lucas because he seemed to be out of place here. He was so happy and excited that he found a family that seemed to disregard his optimism. Justin touched his long scar on his left arm. Hard times like these made it difficult to share happiness.

"Eight I think…" Lucas responded, frowning for a moment before smiling immediately, "I'll be nine in two months!" Justin couldn't help but give a wry smile at the kid. Such a bright attitude. Too bad it'll end in two weeks. That was what happened to him when he was first here.

"Well, we'll put that in your identification card okay?" Justin said.

"Ifenti… Identi- what card?" Lucas asked, tongue twisted and unable to say the word.

"Identification," Justin repeated, shaking his long blond yellow hair, "These places are locked so the only way to get through them is a card." Justin took a card out of his pocket which showed his name, birthday, and etc. There was also a picture of him. "You need to renew your picture once every two years and of course, to see Nova."

"No… va?" Lucas repeated confused. Justin sighed. So many questions to answer…

"Mr. Nova actually," Justin amended, "He is the leader of our operation. Any new members must meet him and existing members must meet him as well so that he knows you."

"Oh…" Lucas paused for a moment, "So he is our boss right?"

"Sort of," Justin shrugged his shoulder as they continued to walk down the long hallway. He put his hand onto his head to cover his eyes. Darn it, two days passed and he was tired. He was still trying to recover from the shocking attack from Nova.

"Justin!" Justin paused and saw tall twenty year old someone ahead, leaning against the wall right next to one of the burning torches. The person had soft and short dark black hair that was layered one over another. He was wearing over his black shirt a navy blue jacket with orange fur on the collar. He was wearing tight blue jeans with two large pockets in the front. He turned his head and Justin could see the scar going from his right eye down to his left cheek. His brown eyes expressed toughness but there was a small hint of compassion underneath the layers. "I've been waiting so long that they made me rekindle the torches again and again. I want to talk to you about the mission."

"Hello Leo," Justin said, waiting for Leo to lecture him some more. Leo paused a moment and Justin realized that Leo was looking at Lucas who appeared in front.

"Good morning!" Lucas said happily. Leo looked taken aback, which surprised Justin since Leo rarely looked surprise, and looked at Justin for some answers.

"New kid," Justin mumbled, feeling embarrassed that he was babysitting, "Just taking him to Nova so I'll come back here after I'm done."

"Is he a PM?" Leo interjected as though he didn't listen to Justin's explanation.

"What's a PM?" Lucas asked eagerly, "Is that a rank?" He turned his head back and forth from each person.

"No, he isn't," Justin said, ignoring Lucas' question, "At least not that we know of." Leo stared at the still grinning Lucas who now looked more confused.

"Good," Leo said softly. He got up and away from the wall and sighed, "I'll take care of the kid. You go on with preparing for the mission we need to do."

"Wait, you want to…" Justin was baffled that he couldn't say anything else and had to point at the still confused Lucas.

"You been out for two days and I've been bored without anything to do," Leo said, "I've already got my stuff ready. How about you?" Justin fell silent and embarrassed. Leo hated being cooped up here in the main station.

"Well…" Justin mumbled, hoping to find a good excuse.

"You get ready and I'll take care of the kid. It'll be faster." Without listening anymore, Leo turned away. Lucas looked up at Justin as if hoping for help.

"Sorry Lucas," Justin sighed, "Leo really wants to do this mission so go on with him okay?"

"All right," Lucas grinned his goofy grin, "Make sure to tell me about the mission!" With that he left to follow Leo. Justin sighed as he watched the two leave. Leo was really strange but this is the first time he ever wanted to volunteer to help a newbie. And he was one of them… Justin turned away to go to his room to prepare.

…

"My name is Lucas and yours is Leo right? Say we both have the letter 'L' in our name! I just realized that! Do you know Justin that well? Are you guys friends?" Lucas kept talking like a rapid machine gun while Leo remained silent until he stopped in the middle of the hall and turn to point at the door on the side.

"This is the cafeteria," Leo showed Lucas the large door which was slightly ajar so that Lucas could see many people huddled and eating at top speed, "Don't go in there unless you have a buddy."

"Oh," Lucas said, taken aback, "Who do I-?"

"So if you're hungry, let me know and I'll come with you. We can talk there," Leo interrupted before walking on. Lucas cocked his head to the side as though confused but shrugged his shoulder and continued following Leo. There were a couple of people staring at them now as they watch the tall and strong Leo being followed by some short scrawny kid.

"Say, what's a PM?" Lucas asked Leo. Leo didn't say anything and continued to walk so Lucas assumed that he needed to be more specific. "You asked Justin if I was a PM so what is that?" Leo stopped for a moment in the hall, causing Lucas to bump into his legs. "Ouch! Sorry!" Leo turned around and stooped down till he and Lucas were face to face. It was amazing – Leo, a man with little words, stooping down to the level of the small Lucas.

"PMs are those who live with a curse life," Leo said. Lucas stared back confused.

"Cursed?" Leo closed his eyes and immediately to Lucas' shock, Leo's back shoulder burst into flames, engulfing the area with warmth. Before Lucas could yelp in surprise the flames immediately disappeared, leaving the jacket intact still though smoke could still be seen.

"Fire proof clothing," Leo said staring at Lucas, "I have Typhlosion genes inside of me." Lucas looked wide eye at the statement. Leo stared back as though he envied Lucas. "I'm a PM – a Pokemorph."

…

Nova was sitting in the dank and dark room without a care in the world. The computer screens were cracked and barely working. The door that was blasted open earlier hasn't been fixed yet.

Nova was waiting for the newcomer to see him but there was also another visitor that was coming – the person who has information that they needed. However, to analyze the data, Nova would need Ray's hacking skills. They were behind schedule no thanks to that useless Pokemorph. That kid just had to lose control now. Nova wasn't in a very good mood and the fact that Ray wasn't here yet made him more furious. The Nat notified him of the situation but Nova wasn't going to let that stop him. He will personally go to the doctor if that's what he would have to do.

"My, my, since when has it been that doors are no longer a necessity in this place?" Nova jerked his head around to see a cloaked man around his early forties step into the room. His blue eyes flashed out of his hood for a moment.

"Mr. Nova," the man said, bowing his head down in respect. "I see you look quite healthy as usual."

"Don't test my patience," Nova snapped. "I'm not in a good mood." As if to prove it, he started to cough violently and didn't cease for a full minute.

"Even if I have information on their next project?" the man asked, grinning. Nova jerked his head up.

"You have it?" Nova said, his eyes filled with greed. The man merely grinned and held out his empty hand as though waiting for something. Understanding what the man wanted, Nova grudgingly reached into his sleeves and pulled out a wad of cash. He threw it at the man's feet. The man picked it up and didn't even seem to be fazed by the rudeness of Nova. Instead, the cloaked man slowly counted the money to make sure all of it was there while Nova impatiently drummed his finger against the armrest of his wheelchair.

"My sources confirmed that Team Galactic is after the abandoned Fuego Ironworks."

"The factory?" Nova said, "There is nothing there but reluctant refugees. We didn't bother that place since it is not a priority for our cause."

"Heard it's a great place to get fresh "volunteers" for their experiments and the fact that there might be some Resistance soldiers hiding there." The man took out a thick square computerized disk and placed it on one of the tables in the room. "I'm guessing I'll have to wait a bit in order for you to confirm the authenticity of my source." Nova grunted in response. There was a hesitating silence before the man asked something off topic.

"How is Leo?"

"That Typhlosion monster?" Nova grunted. "Silent as usual. Always does his job – like a good soldier."

"He is a valuable Pokemorph," the cloaked man said, "I wouldn't have given you my favorite fighter if you didn't agree to such a demanding price.

"And I heard something interesting as well. Something about a traitor within your group," the cloaked man whispered. The room was deadly silent now but Nova gave no inclination to what the man had said. "You better be careful because I only side with the group that has the best chance of winning this battle and so far you're losing my support."

"You're a double agent and a money maker," Nova spat, "And you always will be. Keep in mind that one day, I will backstab you if I learned you betrayed me to Team Galactic." The cloaked man smirked and turned to the door-less hole in the wall.

"Of course. I have confidence that you would. And I look forward to that day when it happens."

**Author's Notes**

More flashbacks! Well now, that's was sort of eventful. Hmm, I wonder who that cloaked man is… lol.

Well, Black and White versions are almost here in English. :D Wish I could buy it but oh well.

Also, **Black and White Memories** story has the Pokemon names changed into English. And I'm going to post another chapter soon so get ready!

Also important news! For those who don't know, I might put one of the stories on hiatus. You have a chance to choose which stories you would like to save from this dreadful event by voting on my polls which is available on my account.

Let's thank my reviewers before we go.

…

**Light-Sakura**

**N the puppet**

**SagaAuraMana**

**Sparky**

…

That's it from me. See you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	8. Codeword is Ice Cream

**Disclaimer: no Pokemon is owned by this author.**

Another chapter is finished! :D

We're starting to get into the action a bit and less flashbacks. Hopefully, I can get everything connected soon.

Poll has been taken down and it looks like enough of you guys managed to save this story from hiatus. So you can relax now.

**Light-Sakura** (Ai), **Assassin** (Donovan), and **N the puppet** (Ray) (only mentioned) appear in this chapter. Oh yes, and most of JD's random characters as well.

Some new PM people you should know – Henry (Haunter PM), Maya (Ninetails PM) and Mark (Wingull PM). And I think that's about it.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 8:**

"A Pokemorph?" Lucas reapeated as he reached over and touched the orange collar lining fur as though to make sure that it wasn't burning. Lucas' hand brushed against Leo's cheek in doing so though Lucas didn't look scared no did Leo flinch. It was a single sign of mutual friendship. "Does it hurt?"

"No," Leo said, shaking his head, "like I said, the clothes are fireproof-"

"But why do you look like you're in pain?" Leo fell silent, staring at Lucas who merely looked confused. Lucas slowly moved his hand away and Leo followed it with his eyes until it went back to Lucas' side.

"I'm in pain?"

"Hmmm," Lucas cocked his head and inspected Leo's face. Lucas' chubby face and innocent eyes was obvious but yet, there was a sense of strange wisdom beneath… as though the innocence could see through the outside and into all the hidden feelings boiling inside of Leo. "You look sad so I thought it was because of the fire hurt you. Maybe you should take a break and not use it anymore. And you'll be able to smile more." Lucas immediately gave off a goofy grin as though to prove that anyone can smile. Leo couldn't believe it. This kid wasn't even fazed by the fact that Leo had this fire ability. It was as though Lucas cared more about how Leo felt rather than his appearance.

"Well now," a voice said, sounding highly amused, "that's not a bad idea, but unfortunately, life is not that simple." Leo almost flinched for not sensing a person eavesdropping into their conversation. Sensing danger, he immediately spun around and had his fist high in the air, ready to strike. But before Leo could even see the eavesdropper, his fist was immediately blocked by the person's hand. And Leo's throat was grabbed by the man's other hand.

"Wh-what?" Lucas gaped at the mysterious stranger that suddenly appeared. Leo groaned and coughed before he looked up at his attacker.

"You've gotten your guard down to easily," the man said, gazing with blue eyes at Leo whose face immediately drained from shock.

"You…" Leo whispered as though he couldn't believe who he was seeing.

"It's been a while," the attacker responded, giving off a sly grin before letting go Leo who immediately rubbed his neck from the grip. Lucas noticed that the man's hand was covered with nasty looking markings and scars before it was hidden by his cloak again. The man was in his late forty and seemed like Leo's teacher or acquaintance. But for some reason; Lucas felt a strange foreign aura coming from him, as though he didn't belong here. The man finally turned to Lucas and gazed at the boy as though x-raying him. Lucas looked back as well, though he couldn't tell what was behind the icy interior in the man's eyes.

"Hello," the man smiled which did not extend to his cold blue eyes, "Are you a friend of Leo's?" Lucas, deciding that he wasn't dangerous, gave off a smile.

"Yup! He is very cool!" Leo looked surprise at Lucas' comment while the cloaked man roared with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Lucas asked, wondering if he said something wrong. The man chocked back his laughter and looked straight back into Lucas' face.

"I agree, Leo is very cool. He is a very strong killer with no mercy," the man gave a mischievous wink at the blank stare that Lucas had and turned to Leo who immediately glared back as though every inch of the man disgusted him.

"Well now, since when did you have a little pet to follow you around? At least he looks obedient enough. Sure you won't kill this one?" the man said this as though to make a joke. However, Leo didn't respond. "Let me guess, since you guys are walking down the hallway where Nova's headquarters are, this little guy is a new recruit. Am I right?" It wasn't in a question that needed to be answered and Leo didn't say a single word.

"O come on now, is that how to treat a friend?" The man opened his arms graciously but Leo merely scowled back. Slowly the arms went back down to the man's side. "Still angry that I left you in the care of the Resistance?" Leo still didn't say anything and silently passed the man.

"Understand this," the man whispered as Leo passed him close enough to hear him. "That boy will change. Don't go through the same mistake as last time." This time, Leo stopped in his track and for the first time turned to speak to the man.

"Get out of here, before I make you my next target as a killer."The teenager said it in such a soft voice that Lucas couldn't hear him but the tone was sharp and threatening. Then, Leo quickly turned away. "Come on," the teenager said, grabbing Lucas' arm and dragged him away.

"Oh," Lucas said a little surprise at the sudden roughness and turned to the man who still stood the same place and was watching them silently as they leave. "Good bye mister!" The man, for the first time, looked a little bit surprised. Nevertheless, he gave off that icy grin and waved back as well.

"Good bye, little boy."

…

"Hello again!" Yuma said as she approached the hospital bedroom. She was carrying a large box under her arms. This time when she entered, it was a little bit brighter though not by much. Most of the curtains had been pushed away, revealing the patients who were sitting on their beds. Two of the three groaned in frustration. There were only three patients and the fourth bed where Akira slept was empty.

"Just a minute!" Aria called out from the back where the clinic to examine patients was, "I'm tending to Akira right now so please wait a bit."

"Okay," Yuma respond and looked around to spot an 18 year old guy with purple spiky hair and ghostly gloved hands. He was slowly fading in and out of the room like a ghost. Sitting on his bed, he was humming to what sounded like the Happy Birthday song though whose birthday it was, Yuma wasn't sure.

"Hey there Henry," Yuma said to the guy. "How are you? Have you stopped hearing voices yet?"

"Hmmm, sort of. Aria has been very helpful this week. She is like an angel," Henry said in response as though he was speaking of Aria like she was the royal queen of some far away and magical land. Henry's large red eyes seemed to be bulging out and moving back and forth as though he was a slightly mad (which he was), "But I kind of miss them. I had plans with Fonzy to drink tea this weekend but that guy never really said what time yet. I'm hoping to get a response soon."

"Is Fozy the one who speaks with a British accent and works as a hair stylist?" Yuma asked, not remembering all of the names and occupations of the voices inside Henry's head.

"Oh no, that's Normal. Fozy is the one who plays cricket and likes to eat hot dogs. Of course, Fozy is a bit of an airhead so I'm not too worried."

"Well, if he forgets, I'll bring a friend over to have tea with you," Yuma said brightly.

"Oh yes, yes," Henry muttered and went back to humming. This time, the tune was 'Mary had a Little Lamb.' Yuma grinned and sat next to the guy and hummed along with the melody.

"_And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went…"_

"Seriously, if I hear that song one more time, I'm going to burn his head off," a girl said. Yuma turned to see a beautiful and exquisite girl around nineteen. She had gorgeous yellow-white flowing long hair that seemed to light up the aura around her, making her breathtaking beautiful. She had ears of the same color of her hair on the side of her head. From her back, she had beautiful nine tails that were orange tipped. She was wearing not the usual hospital attire but a simple plain blue sleeveless dress. Her foxy eyes suggested that she was just as clever as she was beautiful so watch out or else. Her thin and delicate mouth, however, was upside down as though she was disgusted.

"I can't believe I didn't turn mad with all his talk about Fozy and the unicorns of Kooky Land."

"GASP, you did not just diss the unicorns!" Henry said, looking shock and furious for the first time. He paused for a moment as though listening to someone speaking inside his head before saying, "The unicorns are breed by my friend Guby! And he says that he is very offended by your comment!"

"Oh great," Maya rolled her eyes, "Now I'm in Kooky Land with a unicorn breeding imaginary friend."

"Maya," another voice said, this time belonging to a 13 year old boy. He had slightly spiky white hair with blue highlights in them. His arms were shaped in flat wings with blue stripes though he still had his hands. He had bandages wrapped around his left leg. "Henry only acts like this when he feels lost or threatened as a defense mechanism. People treated him badly when he was young and he thus created imaginary friends inside his head. Aria even explained this to you. If you were nice to him, he would act like his usual normal self."

"Whatever, go ahead and defend him Mark," Maya said while Henry glared at her. "Ewww, stop glaring at me."

"Apologize to Guby now!"

"Guby doesn't exist," Maya retorted, "He's just a figment of your imagination! I can't apologize if he's not in front of me!" Yuma saw that there were flames coming out of Maya's mouth. She was going to start burning this whole place up if she doesn't calm down.

"Guby said that he won't leave until you apologize."

"UHH HELLO? LEAVE FROM WHERE? HE'S NOT EVEN IN THIS ROOM!" This time Maya was blasting out fire that made Yuma's eyebrows sting. Yuma immediately jumped off the bed and flattened herself onto the floor. If there was going to be war, she didn't want to be in the middle of it.

"What's going on?" Aria called out from the back.

"Nothing! Nothing at all," Mark quickly said to the back room. "Henry," the boy said turning his attention to the two furious teenagers in front of him, trying to change subject, "calm down or else Fozy won't drink tea with you this weekend. Maya, shut your mouth or else you'll burn the entire place down." Henry took a deep breath and after giving another glare turned his head away and closed his curtains with a loud swish. Maya exhaled a cloud of smoke before glaring at Mark, grabbed her curtains and pulled them closed as well.

"Great," Mark rolled his eyes and turned to Yuma. "Tell Aria to get put Henry and Maya far away from one another before they start killing each other." With that he too closed his curtains as well. Yuma sighed and made sure that the box in her arms was not caught on fire. She straightened up and waited patiently in one of the waiting chairs. It was another good ten minutes of uncomfortable silence before Aria returned.

"Ah good morning again Yuma," Doctor Aria said as she came out of the back room. She still looked tired but had a kind smile nevertheless. She eyed the closed curtains and raised her eyebrows in questioning but decided that it was best not to ask. "Ray woken up a while ago so you can see him if you want."

"Okay," Yuma grinned – a very mischievous grin. Immediately, Aria knew the girl was up to something.

"Hold it," Aria said, before Yuma could take another step. Yuma froze in place as the doctor slowly eyed what was in the little ninja's hand. "What's in the box?"

"Nothinggggg," Yuma said in a sweet voice but that just made Aria even more suspicious.

"Open it," Aria said. Yuma sighed and unclasp the latch to reveal what appeared to be a load of sharp ninja stars. "Yuma! Not again!" Aria took the box out of Yuma's hands before she could protest. "I told you so many times that Ray should not be used as a target practice. You almost decapitated his head when you decided to try it with swords."

"Save some for me," Maya said from behind her curtains, "I would love to use some on Henry!"

"Guby is still mad!" Henry retorted back.

"Maya," Aria said in a warning tone and the girl was silent again.

"Well, it's not my fault that nobody else would stand still for target practice. Ray is the only one who agrees!" Yuma pouted like a little child.

"That's because nobody else is stupid enough to volunteer in the first place," a voice snapped. Aria saw that it was Akira who had spoken and was walking slightly slowly from behind where Aria came from. He looked better than this morning and more energetic. His pale face was a bit rosier and his reddish cheeks buzzed with static. His bare chest was showing many scars and needle marks; some were old while others were fresh. He was discharged from here though there was no way he will be taking any missions while his arm was still broken. Right now, he was simply waiting for further instructions from Aria to make sure he doesn't injure himself again.

"Akira," Aria warned, "Ray is different from everyone else. He has a harder time communicating with people, so please don't call him stupid."

"Yeah stupid," Yuma said, sticking out her tongue, "Don't call Ray stupid… stupid."

"I should burn up that tongue of yours," Akira growled, raising his black tail but a look from Aria made him lower it back down. "Well, I know he isn't an idiot, doctor," Akira said, rolling his eyes. "But he agrees to everything people ask him to do. It's like he can't say no."

"Give him time. He's like a finely run computer that would rather crash and burn than say no," Aria said and turned her attention back to Yuma. "You are only here to check up on him. That's it. Don't do anything else."

"Okay," Yuma said though she sounded as though she had another plan. Aria watched the little ninja go to the back room before turning to Akira. She took the clipboard hanging from Akira's bed and began writing things down while speaking.

"Now remember Akira. You need to have that arm remain in the sling. Do not get it wet. Exercise should be limited to a walk each day until after your check up which will be in two weeks and I can confirm that you're back in shape. Remember to eat three meals per day and DO NOT get into any fights."

"Hmph, you make it sound like I'm a rebellious teenager," Akira scoffed.

"That's because you are," Aria said as she finished writing.

"Anything else?" Akira said, as he clumsily put on his jacket.

"Yes, don't use your powers ever again." Akira paused while trying to get his arm into the sleeve and stared at Aria who scribbled some more stuff onto her clipboard. She looked up once she noticed Akira's lack of response.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't give me that look. You know the risk," Aria said, "The electricity in your body does more damage than you think. Even though your cells produce the current for electricity, they get overloaded from the work and die. Your body can't keep up producing more new cells to replace the dead one. Worse scenario is if your cardiovascular cells should get overloaded with electricity and your heart stop working. You'll end up with a heart attack."

Akira stared back blankly and merely shrugged before struggling to put on his sleeve again.

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"Yeah, I did, but I don't care," Akira said. "Those bastards made me who I am today and I'm going to make sure they're going to regret it till my last dying breath."

"Akira, you don't get it. You need to be concern about your health. Not just about revenge," Aria said firmly. "Think about your future. Your parents didn't bring you to this world just to get yourself killed."

"No, you're the one who don't get it. My parents were killed because of me," Akira said in an angry and deadly tone. "If I wasn't tested positive for their PM experiment, my mom and dad would be here. I'm not going to live in _peace_ with that kind of guilt inside of me. My future killed off theirs."

"Akira…" She tried to reach her hand out to the guy but he merely pushed it away.

"Just… leave me alone… You don't understand what it is like to lose your parents." With that Akira stormed out of the room, not looking back once. The room once again was unusually silent.

"Doctor Aria," Mark said, pushing the curtains back. He stood up and limped over. He looked up to stare compassionately at Aria. "Don't let it get to you. He's just frustrated that his team mission almost failed because of him."

"I know," Aria sighed. "But I hope he realizes the consequences soon before something bad happens to him."

…

Justin left his room and was heading toward the meeting room. He was lost in thought as he slowly leaned against the wall and slowly scraping by. The torches burned softly and bathed him in warmth as he passed from underneath them. He never thought Leo would actually talk to Lucas. The last time Leo tried to be friendly with a non-PM person; things were left with bad feelings. Leo never tried to attempt to be sociable again even with other PM. What was it about Lucas that made Leo change his mind? Justin was thinking in his own world so much that he accidentally bumped into someone.

"Opps, sorry," Justin said and immediately noticed that it was a girl about the same age as him. She looked mildly surprised as she brushed off her white kimono. Justin immediately noticed the white ears and the blue bangs and realized that this girl was a PM. He could immediately feel hostility and could not blame her. It's not wise to be friendly with people even in the Resistance. Most of them had really bad attitudes so almost everyone, especially the PM, kept to themselves. Justin had been here for a long time and he still couldn't recognize all of the PM.

"Be careful next time," the girl muttered and flinched in surprise when she saw Justin's face. "Hey! You're the guy who helped Ray!"

"Oh um, yeah." Justin shrugged his shoulders as though to say it was no big deal.

"Well, thank you," the girl said, sounding grateful, "If it wasn't for you, Ray could've died."

"Gee, thanks," Justin said, a bit surprised. "I think you're one of the few who actually thank me."

"You helped out my friend," the girl said, looking at Justin with her brown eyes, "Not many people would actually do that for a PM." After a pause, the girl took out her hand, "I'm Ai."

"Nice to meet you Ai," Justin grinned and shook the girl's hand, "I'm Justin."

"I'm going to visit Ray right now," Ai said, sounding a bit cheerful, "Want to come?"

"Sorry but I have a mission to do," Justin said, "I'll come visit after I get back."

"Oh," Ai said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Well okay then."

"Actually, my friend Yuma is there right now," Justin added, "Maybe you could tell her that I'll be there later? I would appreciate it."

"Okay then," Ai said, nodding, "I'll see you later then?" Justin nodded and continued to walk down the hall. If he had looked back, he would've noticed that Ai continued to stare after him until the darkness of the hall swallowed him up.

…

Leo was lost in thought and back to his moody self. He did not expect to see _him_ today. What were the chances? Leo hated that man – the one whom he thought he could trust. Yet, it was obvious that he and that man would see each other again since Nova is a frequent acquaintance of the man. Leo never liked nor hated Nova compared to other resistance members who were either or. Unlike most of the other PM, Leo was sold specifically to the Resistance where he had no loyalty to or any reason to join. However, realizing that this was the last place he could call home, Leo grudgingly worked for his share of the meal. The area was not brightening up Leo's mood much. The scent of damp earth wasn't pleasant to the smell and the air was making Leo's purse his lips in disgust.

"Why are you so quiet?" Lucas asked. Leo looked down in surprise. He had totally forgotten about Lucas who was slowly catching his breath. Leo didn't realize that he was walking at a faster pace which forced the short Lucas to break into a run just to catch up.

"Sorry," Leo muttered and continued to walk forward, but slower this time. Lucas looked puzzled at Leo's response before hurrying along beside the guy.

"Why are you saying sorry for being quiet?" Lucas said, not realizing that Leo didn't say sorry to answer the question. Leo didn't respond and merely looked away. He probably shouldn't have told the kid about him. Sooner or later, the others' influences on Lucas will probably make him treat Leo like an outsider and a monster. Maybe it was stupid in thinking that they could be friends.

"Here we are," Leo muttered, pointing to the hole in the wall.

"That's Mr. Nova?" Lucas asked, peeking from behind Leo. "He's a voice in the hole?"

"He's in there," Leo stated flatly. He then cleared his throat and said in out loud, "Mr. Nova, Lucas is here."

"I'll take it from here," a wheezy voice said followed by a cough or two. "You, leave."

"Yes sir," Leo responded stiffly before turning back to the little boy. Feeling uncomfortable and unsure what to say to the patient and excited boy, Leo finally just said, "Nova will send someone to come and pick you up later."

"Okay," Lucas said brightly, "Let's meet at the cafeteria after this! I'm feeling kind of hungry." Leo stared incredulously at Lucas and hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"A word of advice Lucas," Leo finally said, looking down at the goofy smile, "don't make him mad." With that, Leo left Lucas all by himself, incredibly confused now.

"Well? Come in!" The wheezy voice snapped impatiently. Lucas shuddered and took a deep breath as he walked into the dark room. It took a while for him to adjust his eyes but he finally did he couldn't help but gasp. All around him were broken computer screens as though something sharp punctured right through them. Everything was in array of mess. Sitting in the middle of all this was a man sitting in a wheelchair. His legs were dead useless and his stone eyes seemed to be lifeless as well. He had a permanent scowl on his face and snorted at Lucas' shabby appearance.

Lucas cringed and shivered. He felt something bad from this man, something really bad. He didn't know what but Lucas knew that his body was telling him to stay away from this old man.

"Welcome to the Resistance, I am the Head – Mr. Nova."

…

_A couple of hours later…_

Leo felt the blustery wind scrape against his cheek like a sharp knife. He peeked through the hiding spot and saw the ugly barren in front of him. Long dead-like yellow grass clumped everywhere as though to parasite off ever last bit of nutrients from this forsaken wasteland. Gray clouds rumbled through as though to bring rain but Leo knew that the clouds were there due to the black carbon dioxide smoke fumes spewing from the smoke stack from a nearby power plant. That was the direction now where Leo's eyes were on. He couldn't see exactly what was there except the smoke but knew that that was the direction of their mission.

"Nice to come out and get some fresh air," Justin said, trying to make a joke but Leo didn't respond. Justin frowned. Something was wrong with Leo. He was quiet, as usual, but moody quiet. During the whole debriefing of the mission, Justin noticed that Leo had a bit of anger in his eyes. "Hey, something wrong?"

"Nothing," Leo muttered, but Justin figured that there was something wrong.

"Is it about Lucas?" Justin asked. When Leo didn't respond, Justin started to talk some more. "Look, he's not a bad kid. Get to know him a bit. Sure, he seems oblivious to his surroundings but I don't think he is someone you should try to distance yourself from."

"He'll change," Leo stated flatly and Justin knew that he was right that something was bugging Leo.

"You don't know that," Justin said, "But I know this for sure. He'll change if you push him away. Just… well, just try and talk to him. Okay?" Leo didn't respond and was silently in deep thinking.

"Yo! When you two girls are finished talking, come over here and get ready for the mission." Justin and Leo looked up to see one of their older, more experienced, and thus, the leader of the group. He was sitting in the back of the small cave that they were using as their hideout. He was in his late twenties and was tall and pale and medium built. His right brown eye had a look of whimsical and slightly loony while his left was a dead glass blue eye. There was still a thin scar over it where the surgery took place to place it in. He was carrying a large worn traveling bag that seemed to be light at first glance, but Justin and Leo knew that inside there were many sketchbooks and notebooks filled with drawings of areas and complexes of buildings and of course, snacks to fill his hungry stomach.

"Sorry Donovan," Justin shrugged his shoulder. "We'll stop talking."

"It's okay, let's just remember to focus back on the mission and make sure it succeeds," Donovan said cheerfully and excitedly. He sounded as though this was some sort of friendly school fieldtrip. Leo merely scoffed and looked away while Justin tried to give a weak grin. That's the thing with Donovan. He was always cheerfully optimistic despite the situation. Of course, he wasn't well-liked by most moody people (like Leo) because of his crazy ideas and positive attitude but Justin decided that Donovan was a decent man who could be trusted.

"So, give us the layout," Justin said. Donovan pulled out a carrot and a sketchbook and flipped to the newest drawing which showed a rather complicated drawing of the inside of the building.

"Okay, here," Donovan said, pointing to a specific door with his carrot stick which was bitten off first before being used, "is the main room where they hold the ice cream."

"The _what_?" Leo and Justin interrupted, not believing what they had just heard.

"The ice cream," Donovan repeated, looking at Leo as though he was weird to ask such a question. Justin gave a blank stare back. "You know strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream…"

"Our mission is to infiltrate for _ice cream_?" Justin sputtered, "I thought it was to steal the designs of the new weapons that they have."

"That's what I said," Donovan said patiently, "The codeword for weapons is 'ice cream'." There was a long silence as Justin tried very hard not to look at Donovan as though he was a weirdo while Leo didn't hide it. "Strawberry is codeword for sniper rifle, vanilla is automatic rifle, chocolate is revolver cannon, etc and etc."

"What's peanut butter then?" Justin said, lightheartedly.

"BB gun," Donovan said, informatively, looking confused at the question. "Why you ask?"

"Oh… I was joking." Justin muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.

"So the weapons are in this storage area," Leo said, pointing to the big room where Donovan's carrot was pointing to. "Seems like its going to be hard to get in without Ray's help this time."

"It's not weapon, it's 'ice cream'," Donovan said, taking the carrot and biting into it again, "We need to say the pass code for the sake of national security." But Leo rolled his eyes, indicating that he was not going to say it.

"Moving on," Justin said in a hurried tone. "While the other group distracts the guards, we just need to sneak in long enough and have you copy the weapon designs before we destroy the whole plant. My Scizor could take care of it."

"We can't destroy the entire plant," Leo said, "We won't make it out of there alive if we do."

"The best thing to do is to use the air shaft from here to get in like we originally planned," Justin said, formulating the plan from Donovan's drawing. "However, we'll need to use Donovan's Gengar to destroy the weapons."

"Hey Donovan!" a crackling voice came from Donovan's traveling bag, "You there?" Donovan immediately grabbed a walkie-talkie out of his bag and spoke into it.

"It's not Donovan, its Delta One. This is national security!" Leo rolled his eyes to Justin as though to say _"Are you kidding me?"_ Justin merely gave a weak grin.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the other line said, "Listen, I got my men ready now. So give us the signal when you are." Donovan raised a questioning look at Leo and Justin who merely gave back grim smiles. They were ready – ready to put their lives on the line.

"Yes Puffy Pillow," Donovan said in a somber voice, "We are ready."

**Author's Notes**

Man, I had a fun time coming up with silly names. I especially like "Fozy". XP

Things are getting pretty tense now. I wonder, what'll happen next… lol.

Oh yes, for those who would like to submit an OC to BW story, the guidelines are in my new forum that I have made. The link is on my profile. Come join if you want.

Anyways, let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

**Light-Sakura**

**KoreanoWaltz**

**N the puppet**

…

**-JapanDreamer**


	9. Three Minutes is More than Enough

**Disclaimer: I can't own Pokemon.**

Well now, another chapter! :D

I reedited this chapter.

I've added a new OC into the story. Her name is Ashe from **SagaAuraMana**. Other OCs includes Donovan from **Assassin42**, Ray from **N the puppet**, Ai from **Light-Sakura**, and Fuuta from **KoreanoWaltz**.

Anyways, enjoy!

**Chapter 9:**

"'I'm a Doofus', 'I'm a Doofus', come in!" Donovan's voice crackled through Justin's walkie-talkie strapped onto his belt. Justin, instead of reaching for it, turned behind to look at Leo with exasperated look. Leo didn't even looked faze or even laughed at Donovan's statement.

"Of all code names… Of ALL code names, you had to choose that one?" Justin hissed.

"Hey," Leo shrugged his shoulders, "Donovan said I could choose mine if I didn't want to be called Puffy Pillow the Second. Besides what's the big deal? We all need a bit of a laugh."

"He's not a doofus!" Justin defended giving Leo a death glare. The guy simply gave back an 'Oh really?' look. "Okay, he might be a little bit weird," Justin continued, "but that doesn't give you a right to make fun of him!"

"Be glad that I decided on the word doofus instead of something else."

"You do realize that this walkie-talkie connection goes to every single person on this mission? We don't need distractions like this."

"Oh shut up, Big Bird." Leo scoffed, looking bored.

"That's Firebird to you Doofus," Justin hissed but the guy merely shrugged his shoulders. Still, Justin couldn't help but wonder if Leo actually had a wry sense of humor somewhere underneath that melancholy attitude.

"'I'm a Doofus', are you there? Firebird give 'I'm a Doofus' the phone!" The crackling voice demanded again. Justin could've sworn that he could hear snickers somewhere far away. Leo still looked passive but Justin could feel a hidden amused smile from the guy. Nevertheless, Justin took out the walkie-talkie and handed it to 'I'm a Doofus'.

"Yeah? What is it Donovan?" Leo said in a serious tone.

"It's Delta One!" Donovan hissed. "Seriously, why is no one taking our national security seriou-." Justin grabbed the walkie-talkie quickly from 'I'm a Doofus' who looked as though he was about to say something back and spoke into it.

"Okay, Don-Delta One. State your purpose to call."

"Are you in position yet?" Just and Leo looked up from their hiding spot. They were in the back of the factory just like in the picture Donovan had laid out for them. In a corner on the high part of the wall there was an air vent that was big enough to hold an adult. However, the factory was heavily guarded already by Galactic grunts that were slowly walking around in intervals. Justin could tell from their turquoise bowl cut hair and wacky space outfit that they still haven't decided update their looks. The factory looked like it was old but still working fine as the heavy smoke came spewing out from the top of the smokestacks.

"Yeah," Leo said to the walkie-talkie, not even trying to sound secretive. "Where are you Donovan?"  
"It's Delta One!"

"Whatever," Leo shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes before repeating his question. "Where are you?"

"Where else? I'm at my position. The other groups managed to get a good deal of noise but I can tell even though there are less guards, they are still not going to let up their security that easily. Over and out," Donovan scoffed and paused for a moment before continuing. "Just don't mess things up or else we lose our ice cream." Justin groaned at Leo's annoyed expression and prayed that things will get better. Donovan was hiding about a mile or two away. Should the off chance that Justin and Leo failed taking down the adversary, they all agreed that Donovan would decide whether to back them up or get help.

"Okay, we got one shot at this so let's try not to mess it up," Justin said turning his attention back to the guards that were slowly coming around the factory. "From what I have seen and recording the time as the guards come by, we have only three minutes to get into that air vent and sneak into the security vault."

"Three minutes?" Leo said, sounding surprise for once.

"Yeah," Justin said, "I can't believe it." He looked at Leo and both immediately grinned. It was one of those rare moments that Justin and Leo were able to understand each other and even for a moment, look as though they were friends or maybe even like brothers.

"Shame it is only going take us thirty seconds to sneak in and get rid of them all."

…

"What are you doing gawking like that? You feel pity for a cripple man who is in charge of this whole place?" Nova said, fighting another coughing fit. Lucas immediately looked down at his feet and felt quite ashamed. The sound of crackling electricity and coughing could only be heard now.

"S-sorry, no one told me… ummm… well, you know…" Actually, Lucas didn't know what he was saying. He was only eight. How was a kid like him supposed to react to a grumpy old crippled man who wouldn't hesitate to throw a bomb at anyone?

"Moving on," Nova said, sounding frail, "Even though your life have been spared, do not expect that you're guaranteed a long life, especially if you decide to leave and betray us."

"Huh?"

"The Resistance," Nova continued as though he didn't hear nor see Lucas' puzzled voice and expression. "is here to take down Team Galactic in any means necessary. We do not have time to babysit you. You'll need to learn how to stand on your own two feet by yourself."

"But I can stand on my two feet. See?" Lucas jumped up and down and waved his hands around as though to prove his point but Nova continued as though he was now talking to a very stupid Aipom.

"The identification card can't be made at this time because the person in charge is not here. Therefore-" Nova moved his electrical chair toward the hole that used to be where the door was -"we'll be going there personally to see him." Lucas stood agape. "Well?" Nova snapped. "You have two feet. Move it!"

"Y-y-yes!" The poor boy hurriedly obeyed after Nova. It was a long run in the dark hall and seemed to be winding around like a maze. Lucas was already dizzy from trying to memorize the route. However, Nova seemed to be able to move with quite dexterity despite his handicap. There were not a lot of people around. It seemed that they were all busy doing work outside though what kind of work, Lucas had no idea.

"Nova!" a voice called out.

"What is it Nat?" Nova said before turning his wheelchair around to the sound of the voice. Lucas looked around and saw that right behind him was a strange rather tall scary looking man with a lot of scars on his face. It took a moment for Lucas to realize that it was actually a very tall teenager but Lucas once again could feel something bad coming out from this guy. After glaring down in disgust at the young boy who was looking back through innocent yet frightened eyes, Nat turned to Nova who looked slightly impatient. Nat moved in closer and leaned over to whisper into Nova's ears.

"The team you sent out made it into the factory successfully and is causing quite a good distraction. Should we go on with the real plan?"

"Yes," Nova grunted. "I don't care if the first part failed. Make sure you get the data."

"Yes sir," Nat said, smirking and then left; only stopping to give another frown at Lucas. What a scary guy… Lucas followed with his eyes toward the guy's retreating back until it was swallowed into darkness.

"You don't like him?" Lucas flinched at Nova's question and panicked, unsure of what to say. Nova, for the first time, was now giving his full undivided attention to Lucas. The old man's stony lifeless eyes gave a haunting look.

"He… umm… well, he… has a scary look." Nova's frown increased the line of his faces and seemed to be unsatisfied with Lucas' response.

"Hmph," Nova continued to move his electric wheelchair forward and didn't seem to have any comment to Lucas' stuttered words. Lucas hurried after the man as they continued down the depressing hall. It seemed to be a long while before Nova finally said something. "Do not trust anyone here. That is the only guidance I can give you."

"What?" Lucas said, gasping for air and sounding puzzled but Nova was silent again, leaving Lucas in his own thoughts. No trust? Why? Lucas thought back to his new friends – Justin, Yuma, and Leo. He couldn't trust them? But they were his friends… Lucas shook his head in confusion. Adults never really give a clear cut explanation.

…

_Couple of hours earlier…_

"Hello Ai," Aria said as the beautiful Glaceon Pokemorph who walked in with grace. Her white kimono fluttered in the air. "How are you today?"

"I'm pretty good," Ai replied back. She couldn't help but think about that kind human from earlier – Justin. He seemed to be a pretty down-to-earth guy though why hasn't she seen him before she can't say. Plus, what was that girl's name who was also here that Justin mentioned before? Ai noticed that the other Pokemorphs were awake and were itching to leave. She noticed one was missing.

"Where is Akira?"

"Oh he left earlier," Aria said, sounding sad, "He wants to recuperate faster but got sick of staying here."

"Oh…" Ai knew how tiresome Akira's behavior could be. He had a temper but that was because he hated being the one to drag everyone down or enduring with people who drag him down.

"Hey there Ai," Mark, the Wingull Pokemorph with a broken leg, said. "How are you? Did you manage to get any work done"

"Yeah, I'm on my off day so I worked out a bit," Ai said. She turned to say hi to the others when she immediately noticed the hostility between Maya and Henry, the crazy Haunter Pokemorph. Both of them had an 'I so want to kill you' look on their faces. Of course, Henry had a bit of a wild look on his face, making him look crazy. Mark looked as though he wished he was anywhere but here. He gave Ai a weak grin. "I'm guessing I came at a bad time."

"Actually," Aria said, frowning slightly at Maya and Henry, both who refused to back down. "you came at a perfect time. I need you to watch over Ray for me while I take care of these patients so they can leave soon." By 'they', Ai knew that Aria was specifically talking about Henry and Maya.

"Is Ray okay?" Ai asked sounding concern.

"Well… let's just say Ray has a visitor who needs to be kept under watchful eyes."

"Watchful eyes?" But then the phone on the wall started to ring before Aria could explain.

"Sorry, I need to take this," Aria quickly said and picked up the phone to speak. "Hello? What? Okay, in that case bring him over…"

"Don't worry about it," Mark said toward Ai. She noticed that the guy looked as though he had a rough day and was trying hard to attempt another smile. "We all have had a busy day. Besides, the visitor is more of a hassle to deal with. In fact, why don't I introduce her to you?"

"Wait, what about your-?" Ai motioned her head toward Mark's broken leg.

"Don't worry about it. I need the exercise," Mark grinned and immediately motioned Ai to bend down so that he could whisper into her ears. "Besides, if I stay here any longer, I might get killed by Henry and Maya." The two still looked like they wanted to murder each other and both looked as though they wanted to gut the other. With that in mind, Ai followed him.

"Who is this person?" Ai asked, walking slowly. Mark was having a bit of a difficulty despite using one crutch but he didn't look like he wanted any help and Ai decided to offer. After all, a man's pride was a delicate matter.

"Oh, a friend of a friend and who likes to pester us all. Especially Ray. You never met her but I'm pretty sure you heard of the name 'Yummy'?"

"In passing, yes," Ai said, sounding confused. She remembered some groups of humans talking about this 'Yummy'. At first Ai thought they were talking about food though that didn't make any sense since who cared about the taste of food these days. Of course she didn't get to hear the entire story because they immediately quell into silence when they saw her. "Is this the 'Yummy' person who tried to promote sword throwing in the cafeteria?"

"Yeah, that's her," Mark laughed as he hobbled over to open the back door. "Here we are." When Mark opened the door and the first thing she noticed was that Ray was freaking out. He had that usual wild expression hyperventilated breathing. It took another second for Ai to realize why he was like that.

"NO! NO! NO!" Ray exclaimed and started to grab something from the hand of what appeared to be a nine year old girl who was wearing the strangest ninja clothes.

"Come on Ray-Ray!" The girl exclaimed, trying to pull whatever it was back. "You need to realize that apples can be purple!" Ai had no idea what the ninja girl was talking about until she noticed a coloring book in front of Ray. There were scattered coloring pencils and crayons all over the boy's bed. Ray was attempting to organize the colorful mess into a neat order in a row of a rainbow while pulling back whatever the girl was holding onto.

"NO!" Ray yelled. "Apples must be colored red or green or yellow!" He was holding the coloring pencils in the colors that he had just mentioned.

"NO!" the girl retorted back. "Now draw with the purple crayon!" She was holding the crayon like some sort of knife.

"NOO!" Ray whimpered and covered his hands to his ears as though the noise was bothering him now. Ai couldn't help but gape in a 'WTF' look. What the heck was going on?

"What's going on Yuma?" Mark said, saying Ai's question out loud. The boy sounded a little bit annoyed.

"Oh Mark!" the ninja girl said, looking up. Ray tried to run away toward Mark, his apparent savior, but Yuma grabbed him by his nightshirt. The poor Ray was gagging now. Ai had no idea whether or not she should try to save Ray now. "I'm trying to teach this guy not to be so obsessively organized and have a bit more imagination."

"Coloring books again?" Mark sighed at the mess. "It is in Ray's nature to act extremely OCD. Stop putting more stress on his heart. At least wait until he's a little bit better."

"Hey, Aria wouldn't let me try my ninja star throwing practice."

"How is that putting less stress on his heart?"

"Because all he has to do is just stand still," Yuma retorted back. "Besides, Aria does this exercise was well to teach Ray how to be more flexible and less robotic. Of course, it is still a work in progress cuz this bonehead is so stubborn." Ray continued to try and run so Yuma immediately bopped the teenager on the head, knocking him unconscious. Ai couldn't help but gape at the girl's tomboyish attitude. Mark, on the other hand, looked rather calm, as though knocking Ray unconscious was a typical way to start the day.

"That's Doctor Aria to you," Mark retorted back. "Try to be more polite. It's that tongue of yours that will get you into more trouble."

"Whatever," Yuma sighed. It was then that Yuma noticed Ai, who was still gawking. "Who are you?" Ai immediately realized her mouth was still open and clamped it shut.

"This is Ai. Ai, this is Yuma or as you would probably know her as 'Yummy'," Mark said immediately. The name finally clicked. This was the girl that Justin was talking about earlier. Ai was able to get a better look at Yuma now that the girl was looking at her. Her large round eyes made her look kind of cute. But there was a sense of toughness underneath. "She is also here to see her friend Ray," Mark continued to Yuma, "whom you knocked unconscious by the way."

"Oh oops," Yuma said as though she just realized this as she looked down at the unconscious Ray. "Sorry about that. Force of habit." Ai watched as Yuma tried to wake Ray up by punching the guy on the head again like he was some sort of toy. Of course, it didn't really work.

"Stop doing that!" Ai exclaimed. "You're hurting him!" Yuma looked strangely at Ai.

"Say, I don't remember seeing you before," Yuma said, cocking her head to the side toward Ai after failing to wake Ray up.

"You must have missed her," Mark said. "Besides, it's not like you specifically come out to see us like Justin does."

"Justin? Justin comes here often?" Ai interrupted. She was surprised that even though she had visited the hospital many times, she never had seen Justin before.

"Why do you sound so surprise?" Yuma asked with a smirk and Ai immediately blushed in embarrassment for saying and sounding so… well, interested.

"Nothing… it's just that not a lot of… well, humans come…" Ai muttered on. On the other hand, Mark didn't look like he wanted to tease Ai as much as Yuma did and the boy gave the ninja girl a look which made her decide to not press it any further.

"Yeah, Justin comes here a lot," Yuma said, answering Ai's embarrassed question. Then, the ninja girl dragged the unconscious Ray back onto his bed. "If he can that is. He usually just checks and sees if Aria needs any help. If you ask me, I think he has a thing for her." Yuma smirked at the last sentence.

"Really?" Mark retorted back, sounding annoyed that Yuma was in the mood to tease, "And what about you? You only come here if Justin comes as well. In fact, aren't you waiting here for him?"

"What about it," Yuma snapped. Ai noticed that the girl's cheeks turned a bit red. _So,_ Ai thought, _Yuma liked Justin as well… wait, why did I say 'as well'?_ Ai could feel an icy feeling creeping up her skin. Unlike most people, Ai would get cold when embarrassed. Mark, on the other hand, simply shrugged his shoulders and turned around.

"Stop making fun of other people. Okay?" With that, Mark left the room, leaving Ai and Yuma alone. Of course, Ray was with them but since he was unconscious, he doesn't really count.

"Bleh," Yuma said, sticking out her tongue out to the door that Mark used. "He is so mature."

"Don't tease Mark," Ai said immediately, defending her friend. She could feel her temper rising and though most people would be boiling with anger, Ai was 'freezing' with rage. Her hands were slowly being encased by ice. If this was to happen to a normal person, he or she would've gotten frostbite by now. However, the ice actually doesn't injure the Glaceon PM's body. It was as though she was immune to the sharp and biting feeling.

"Okay, okay, sorry," Yuma said, looking apprehensively. The girl kept forgetting that she did have to watch her tongue around others; especially PMs. Mark, Ray, and Aria were among the few who Yuma can act like herself. "So how do you know Justin?" Yuma was trying to change the subject obviously but she was curious as well. Justin never mentioned a pretty Glaceon PM before.

"Actually," Ai said, feeling herself calm down just a bit. "I met him a little bit earlier. He said that he was coming once his mission was done."

"Oh okay…" Yuma nodded and paused for a moment before asking another question. "Do you like him?" Ai immediately turned red but before she could really try to sputter anything, Yuma continued to talk.

"I like Justin a lot like a brother. He was the only one who would treat me like I'm one of the family. Even when he was busy he would never brush me away or forget about me. I want to be like him. I want to treat everybody the same and have other people treat each other the same. Nobody is more important than the other. Still, it's not easy. Nobody likes to smile anymore so I feel like everybody is against me." Ai stared in a bit of shock. Why this sudden change in attitude?

Yuma looked at the unconscious Ray and gave another evil master plan grin. She took a black felted pen and uncapped it. "Hey, wanna draw all over Ray-Ray's face?"

…

It was dark in Fuuta's room and looked even drearier than others' since Fuuta rarely came back to the Resistance. He was always busy doing work that Nova set up for him. The fact that the old man was actually giving him time for a break was a rare miracle. The musty smell in the room was unbearable and Fuuta decided to leave the door open despite the fact that someone could sneak in easier. Didn't really matter since he would be able to sense another being's presence. Fuuta sighed as he put on his dark raincoat. He came back here only to be sent out to another mission. Apparently, this time, Fuuta had to work as backup. He quickly grabbed his headphones and placed them over his golden brown hair. At least there will be peace and quiet if need be.

"_YO! Fuuta!"_ Fuuta jerked his head up without a single bit of surprise that a voice was speaking in his head. Hovering over the guy was a giant purple Spiritomb. Apparently, this Pokemon was the one who was speaking to Fuuta for the guy gave a completely annoyed look back at it. _"What's with the glum look? Keep this up and you won't be able to find a girl! And you're still fresh!"_

"Oh shut up," Fuuta said out loud and gave a stifling yawn. "Why do you always annoy me?"

"_Because it's fun."_

"Whatever," Fuuta said, "Sometimes I wished I did have a girl. Then I wouldn't have to look like an idiot talking to you."

"Too late for that." Fuuta almost jumped at the sound of the new voice. He had been so absorbed in his talk with Spiritomb that he wasn't aware of his surroundings like he usually was. The person who spoke was a girl. She was extremely tall, even taller than Fuuta, and had to stoop down to get through the doorway. She had a red feather-like shirt and slightly torn brown pants that went down to her ankle. Around her neck was an old locket. She looked through red amusing eyes at Fuuta and then gave nod to the Spiritomb. "Sorry for butting into your conversation."

"Oh it's you Ashe," Fuuta said, recognizing the fiery vibes the Blaziken PM was giving off.

"You make it sound like it is a bad thing," Ashe said in a feigned hurt voice. Looking bored now, she flicked her wrists and flames immediately engulfed her entire hand like fiery gloves. She flicked them again and the flames vanished this time. It was a habit of hers. She then took a bite from a pale Oran berry that she had in her hand and said through a stuffed mouth,"When did you get back?"

"A couple of hours ago and just finished debriefing," Fuuta said calmly and didn't elaborate. He never shared information about mission he had been on and Ashe didn't pursue it. She knew the rules.

"Anyways, back to the main topic. I'm coming with you on the mission. Apparently, we're going to work together."

"Why am I not surprise?" Fuuta groaned and closed his eyes. Less than five minutes to himself and he was already going to be briefed of his next mission. That old man! It was all his doing.

"What's that suppose to mean?" This time, Ashe sounded a bit indignant.

"Oh come on," Fuuta sighed, too tired to care about being sensitive. "Nova always sends me out only on dangerous missions for a reason. Don't tell you actually thought that this mission will be easy when you learned you were paired up with me?"

"Well no," Ashe admitted, getting Fuuta's point, "I heard this one is a dozy – assuming we do it correctly."

"Great," Fuuta groaned again. "And here I thought we were going to be back up for another mission."

"And here I thought you were psychic enough to know that that was obviously a lie."

_OOOOO! BURNNNN!_

"Shut up," Fuuta growled at his Spiritomb who was crackling with madness. "Not you," Fuuta added to Ashe because she looked a bit taken aback. "Urgh, I am having a bad day." He collapsed on to his mattress feeling completely drained.

"Isn't everyday a bad day?"

"Well yeah, but today just happened to be extremely bad."

"Try to smile a bit today, okay?" Ashe sighed, not trying to act too sympathetic. "I'll be waiting outside." She crouched down to leave the room and stopped for a moment as though she remembered something. "Oh yeah, I'm not your only partner for this mission."

"What?" This wasn't new or anything. Fuuta was usually paired up with a couple of PMs on his missions but Ashe sounded… well, amused which made the psychic human suspicious.

"Oh yeah, Assassin is coming as well." That threw Fuuta off. He jerked up from his bed and almost fell out of it.

"A-assassin? The Ice Princess?" Even Fuuta's Spiritomb seemed to be so shocked that it couldn't make a sarcastic comeback.

"Told you this mission is a dozy," Ashe grinned at the look of horror on Fuuta's face. "Try not to make a repeat of last time. Or else, I'm going to waste my fire power trying to defrost your little pea size head." She left the room, leaving the appalled Fuuta by himself.

_Oh boy, you're definite in trouble._

"Shut up Spiritomb," Fuuta said again and sighed again. He had been doing a lot of that lately. "Why did this happen to me?"

_Maybe it's because Nova hates your guts._

"Forget maybe," Fuuta said, covering his face with a pillow and wondering if he could use it to suffocate now and avoid the pain coming soon. "Nova definitely hates my guts." There was a deep silence before Spiritomb spoke again. This time, it sounded more sincere than sarcastic.

_You're lonely aren't you?_

"What? No I'm not," Fuuta stubbornly snapped back. In his head, he knew he was lying. Every since that day, Fuuta didn't have the energy to be sarcastic or cheerful as he used to. He still remembered the last time he even acted happy. It was that special day for his friend who was sharing the news to Fuuta. Fuuta could still see that stupid guy's face. He was grinning stupidly as always and despite what had happened, never seemed to have forgotten how to laugh.

_Fuuta! Great news, Shiki is pregnant! I'm going to be a father! A father! Can you believe that?_

_Not anymore_, Fuuta thought as he dispelled the memory from his head like a fog. The face of his old friend was gone, leaving Fuuta all alone in the hard and cruel reality. "No," Fuuta repeated but more to himself this time. "I'm not lonely anymore."

**Author's Notes**

Well, we're going to get a little bit more into the action in the next chapter. I like to take this story a bit slowly for now.

Updates are posted on my forum. I would like more people to join if possible. News will be posted there as well.

Let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

**Assassin42**

**Dreadly Rise**

**Light-Sakura**

**N the puppet**

**SagaAuraMana**

**Flashfire360**

**Furryfur **(Thanks for the review. I appreciate it. :D)

…

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	10. Assassin's True Power

**Disclaimer: Well, you see, I don't own Pokemon because the moon isn't made of cheese. Until that time comes, I can't own Pokemon.  
**

Hey guys, and welcome to another chapter! It is very long with, as I promised, quite a bit of action. In fact there is so much action, I'm exhausted.

OCs from before in this chapter include Ray from **N the puppet**, Ai from **Light-Sakura**, Donovan from **Assassin42**, Fuuta from **KoreanoWaltz**, **Ashe** from **SagaAuraMana**.

I would also like to introduce a new character – Pain from **Yaersulf**.

Got quite a bit of news on the bottom so please read.

Anyways, enjoy!

**Chapter 10:**

Maya was taking slow but deep breaths as she felt her ribs. They hurt but at least they weren't broken anymore. Aria had treated it quite well and Maya was very pleased. Of course, Maya's mood was still very sour… very, very sour…

The good news was that Henry was back to his normal self. By normal, he wasn't talking to his imaginary friends or visiting unicorns. He didn't seem to be interested in fighting with Maya or rather he seemed to have forgotten all about it. Instead, Henry was eating a bowl of Nutpea berries. His purple hair fell over his eyes so that his red eyes glowed rather evilly. There was the sound of cracking in the back of Henry's teeth as he split the shells before spitting them out to eat the meat inside.

Crack, spit, crunch… crack, spit, crunch… The noise was getting quite irritating as the time passed.

"Will you stop doing that?" Maya said, finally snapping. Henry stopped for a moment to look at Maya. He shrugged his shoulders and continued eating. Crack, spit, crunch…

"Answer my question when I ask you something you stupid Haunter PM."

"Why? It's a rhetorical question. How am I supposed to answer something that doesn't need to be answered?" Henry said through a stuffed mouth. Several pieces flew out of his mouth.

"Urgh, you're impossible. I can't wait to leave this place." Maya tossed her beautiful and luxurious hair and fluffed her tails so that they looked more presentable.

"You're not the only one," Mark said groaning. He was gingerly testing his injured leg, making sure that he could somewhat lean on it without collapsing. Of course, the sounds of the cracking of shells were disturbing him as well. Mark sighed and ran his fingers through his white hair that had blue highlights. "Henry, could you please eat that a little bit later. My head hurts."

"Okay Mark," Henry said automatically and with one last crunch, he put the bowl of berries to the side.

"That's it? That's all it takes to shut you up? You listen to him but not to me?" Maya said, sounding furious.

"He said please," Henry retorted back, his red eyes glowering. "Unlike you, you no-manner-unicorn hater."

"Stop it," Mark said sharply to Henry for Maya looked like she wanted to breathe another blast of fire to Henry's face and singed off his eyebrows. "We don't need more injuries for Aria to deal with. Percy is coming in." There was a sickening silence at Mark's words.

"Tch, I hate it every time I see that kid," Maya muttered, "My heart hurts, wondering if that is going to be last time I see him."

"You have a heart?"

"Shut up and go back to your unicorn land!"

"He'll live Maya," Mark said sharply, again, trying to stop another possible fight. "Have a little bit of faith."

"Faith?" Maya repeated, laughing hollowly. "How can I have faith for the poor boy after all he had been through? How can I have faith when our lives are in this miserable place? What is faith when every day, we don't know if we'll see each other again?" Before Mark could say anything, it was Henry who replied back.

"We're still alive," Henry said quietly and looked at Maya not with anger but calmness. "We might hate the world we're living in but we sure don't want to run away from the problems. That's why we are still here. Our goal is to bring a brighter future for the next generation. If we lose faith, then we might as well give up and die and let throw our problems to everybody else like a coward." There was a silence before Maya said something.

"Why are you acting smart all of a sudden? I don't get you." With that, the disgruntled Maya grabbed the curtain around her small bed and swished it closed.

"Was it something I said?" Henry asked bewildered.

"Sort of," Mark said, shrugging his shoulders. He looked over to the door where Aria was standing by.

After the phone call, Aria waited patiently outside the door of the clinic. There was a sick patient coming in soon and she wanted to make sure that the patient didn't try to sneak off. She then saw a small shadow walking slowly toward her in the distant. Behind the shadow was a rather large grumpy and beefy lady who stood there to make sure the small shadow went to Aria.

"Come in, come in," Aria said quickly to the small child that had walked into the clinic. He was a sickly looking and pale kid with such tattered clothing that they looked more like rags. The beefy lady gave a curt nod to Aria before leaving.

"Am I the only one here?" the little boy asked. On top of his head was a small felted dark green hat that seemed to be the only part of his clothing that wasn't ragged. The poor boy was coughing to the point where one would wonder if the boy would be spitting out blood anytime soon. Doctor Aria brought a small chair for the boy to sit on and carefully removed the hat. Pointed yellow ears that were tipped black immediately stuck out of the small messy tuff of blonde hair upward. The little boy even had a lightning bolt tail though it was quite small.

"Percy, how many times have I told you?" Aria sighed, "If you're feeling sick, notify me immediately. Don't just wait out on it. It'll do worse to your body." The little five year old replied back with another coughing fit.

"I wish I had better medicine," Aria continued as she looked through the medicine cabinet which was mostly filled for adult dosage of pain killers. It was the only thing that Nova would actually make sure there was enough stock of in this clinic. Unfortunately, medicines of other kinds were getting low. Aria knew that the only way that they could restock was if they infiltrate in a factory and 'borrowed' the medicine supplies that were made. Aria disliked this method but there was no other way when the Resistance didn't have the budget to fund medical needs for Pokemorphs.

"Here are some cough medicine," Aria said, taking out a spoon and a tinted brown color medicine bottle. Percy shook his little head as though he didn't want it. "I know it tastes awful," Aria said as she poured the viscous medicine out into the spoon, "but I prefer you to get better." Percy didn't say anything and immediately coughed out blood. It looked rather sickly to see the red color in his hand. "Percy!" Aria gasped. She grabbed a towel and wiped the poor boy's mouth. "That's it. You're staying here overnight for observation."

"I-I'm fine," Percy sputtered while red blood dripped down his shirt. As if to prove it, he quickly swallowed the medicine in the spoon. There was a look of disgust on his face as the liquid went down his throat. Blood was still trickling down.

"If you're going to lie, don't do it while having blood coming out of your mouth," Aria said calmly as she wiped off the blood which was now slowing down to a trickle.

"I-I wanted to see my dad today," Percy mumbled. Aria paused, letting the towel hang in midair for a moment before trying to cover up her shock by continuing to wipe Percy's mouth.

"Today is his day off," Percy continued excitedly, "If I show him that I'm not sick anymore he'll-"

"No," Aria said firmly, "Not today." In her free hand, she started to form a small spiral of water which moved like a ribbon as it slowly wetted the boy's mouth before being dried by the towel. Percy's face immediately fell and then timidly he said,

"I don't think daddy is…"

"Percy, no. You should not meet your father now." This time Aria said it in a forced and bitter tone though it wasn't directed at Percy. "Stay here for the night and we'll see about it tomorrow morning." The boy nodded but he knew that meant end of discussion. It was always like this, every single time… visiting the doctor daily, stuck in bed, his father… his father never visiting him once. Percy's eyes were filled with tears and he tried his best to choke back his sobs.

"Don't cry," Aria said, sounding gentle again, "The most important thing for you is to get better, okay?" Percy replied with a sniffle but nodded again like he understood. Mark and Henry looked miserably at each other. There was no sound coming from Maya's bed but Mark knew that the Ninetails PM heard everything as well. They knew the story of Percy – a really sad tale.

There was a sound coming from outside now – the sound of an electric wheelchair. Aria and Mark and Henry immediately stiffened. There was a small gasp from Maya. They knew this sound too well.

"Aria," Nova growled, coming through the door. "Where is Ray?... And what is that doing here?" By the word 'that' Nova had meant the little Percy whom looked frightened and tried to cover his Pikachu ears with his felted hat.

"Nova," Aria said, rather icily. Instead of the gentle voice she had always used, she was using that rare tone that was only used in front of Nova. "I though I made it clear before. Ray is not in condition to work. If you make him, he'll crash sooner and will take even longer to recover."

"Bah," Nova spat, "He rested enough. Wake him up right now and bring him to me."

"No," Aria said definitely. The two were glaring at each other with such intensity that Percy, still frightened, quickly got off his chair and slipped away toward Mark and Henry without them noticing. Henry picked up the little boy who cuddled in his lap. Any minute now, Mark thought. Finally, the shouting war started.

"Listen to me you worthless doctor!"

"ME? Worthless? May I remind you that I'm the one who takes care of your health everyday! You would've been dead if it wasn't for me!"

"All you do is tell me what to do when it should be the other way around."

"I'm a doctor! I'm supposed to tell my patients what to do!"

"What's going on?" Ai said as she came out of the room where Ray was. She stared at them as though she was slightly irritated at the noise. In Ai's hand was a white towel that was smudged with what appeared to be black ink.

"Nova," Mark said stiffly and Ai's face changed to pure fear.

"I wished I left earlier," Maya groaned as she pushed the curtains back and got up. She almost collided into someone who said, "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

Mark, Maya, and Ai both looked down to see a little boy with short smooth black hair and rather large gray eyes. He stared back, equally puzzled and was rubbing his head from the point of impact.

"Hello, good morning," the boy said politely, "My name is Lucas." Mark, Maya, and Ai didn't speak. Where did this kid come from? And more importantly, why is he smiling?

"Oh hello there," Henry said, apparently the only one who isn't fazed by the arrival of this newcomer, "My name is Henry." He took out his hand for Lucas to shake but when the little boy tried to grasp it, his hand went through for Henry's hand was transparanet.

"Oh opps," Henry said as though he realized this and screwed his face in concentration until finally his hand appeared to be solid and shook Lucas' hand. The little boy's eyes widened with amazement.

"Wow," Lucas said softly, "How did you do that?" His voice was filled with nothing but amazement.

"By eating vegetables," Henry said calmly. "And exercising."

"Yeah, right," Maya scoffed, recovering at last. "That's only if you want to become a super hero, not if you want to become a freak." She rolled her eyes and turned to Lucas.

"I haven't seen your face before." She leaned over and sniffed the boy who looked at her confusingly. Immediately the girl's face had a scowl. "You're human." Immediately, Mark and Ai stiffened and looked rather wary. The word was like a code to tell PMs to be on their guard.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I think that's right," Lucas said calmly and didn't say anymore which immediately put him in Maya's list of weirdo. He seemed to be more interested at the little boy with the felted hat. The little five year old Percy was glancing curiously at Lucas as well. It seemed both were communicating in some sort of silent language. Slowly, little Percy started to smile. Lucas responded by pointing to Percy's mouth.

"You're bleeding," Lucas said as he watched the blood dripped to the ground.

"Ah!" Maya and Ai said panicking, both just noticing it as well. Percy, looking surprised, merely put his fingers to his mouth as though to check. Henry on the other hand… fell asleep… How he managed to do it so quickly after talking to Lucas, one can only wonder. Mark, doing quick thinking, immediately got the towel from Ai's hand and quickly wiped Percy's mouth.

"How long do you think it'll take before Nova wins?" Mark asked as he pressed the towel hard against Percy's mouth. The shouting war was still going and seemed to be leading to nowhere.

"I say about five minutes," Ai said, listening to the yelling and sighing. "You know, I think Aria is the only one who could actually stand up against that cripple."

"Shhh! He'll here you," Mark hissed and looked frightened at the sound of the voices.

"Hey! Can you guys keep it…? Oh hey Lucas!" Everybody turned to see Yuma coming out of Ray's room. The little ninja girl gave a wolfish grin toward Lucas.

"Hi there Yuma." Lucas said politely. Mark couldn't help but give a look of surprise. Maya and Ai looked equally puzzled. Henry was snoring. Percy was trying to clean up his face by himself but peered over to look at Yuma and Lucas. Yuma, however, frowned and immediately came over to bop the boy's head.

"Ow!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Yummy!"

"S-sorry." Lucas whimpered as he rubbed his head. Yuma then turned to the others and grinned.

"So, I guess all of you were getting to know each other huh?" There was an awkward silence as Yuma looked at each one of them. Normally, PMs do not simply talk to humans. In fact, it was as though it was part of their genes to not initiate a conversation or introductions. Of course, Henry was one of the few who could since he was too loony to notice the difference. Finally, taking the initiative, Mark spoke up.

"Oh sorry Yuma, we never got around to it. Lucas, I'm Mark – a Wingull PM. This is Ai – a Glaceon PM -" Ai gave a slight nod – "This guy who is sleeping, as you already known from earlier, is Henry – a Haunter PM -" Henry replied by gaggling snort – "This little kid is Percy – a Pikachu Pokemorph-" The shy kid gave a little wave – "And this lovely lady is Maya – a Ninetails PM." The yellow-white hair girl gave a scowl which apparently was her way of greet newcomers.

"PM?" Lucas repeated confused.

"Oh Pokemorph," Mark said, "You know, people with Pokemon powers. You don't know that?"

"He's new," Yuma said as though to explain Lucas' lack of knowledge for vocabulary terms.

"That explains why he looked so different," Ai interjected as she looked at Lucas who was still trying to process the words. "He seemed to be a little bit dim in the head though."

"Well, that's not really a bad thing," Mark said though Maya snorted in surprise.

"Ohhh," Lucas said as though he just realized it. "Like Leo." It took a while for everybody to register that Lucas was still on the topic of PMs.

"You know Leo?" Maya said, sounding surprised for once. Leo was one of the well known PM since he was one of the more experienced fighters.

"Sort of," Lucas replied back and then immediately grinned, "Nice to meet all of you. I hope we become good friends!" There was a weird silence, mostly due to shock. Ai had never met someone like Lucas. His goofy grin and his mature politeness made him into someone that one can't really describe.

"Why are you here?" Maya suddenly asked rudely to Lucas.

"Maya," Ai exclaimed, "That's not nice." However, Lucas didn't even seemed to be fazed by Maya's sharp tongue and seemed to be still having a silent conversation with Percy who was slowly grinning back.

"Yeah… now that I think about it, why are you here?" Yuma said to Lucas. "I thought Justin said you needed to get your identification what-not?" When Lucas didn't respond, Yuma bopped the guy on the head. "Answer me when I ask a question!"

"Owww," Lucas said turning around, "Well Nova said that we-."

"Wait, Nova is here?" Yuma interrupted, sounding a little bit fearful for the first time.

"Did you not hear the screaming earlier brat?" Maya yawned as she leaned to her side.

"Uhhh, no, I was busy with… Never mind, I should go." With that Yuma disappeared as though she was never there in the first place.

"Oh no," Mark and Ai groaned. They both knew that when Yuma acted like that, she did something that Nova definitely won't let that ninja girl off the hook if he found out.

"Move aside." An icy voice said. Everybody jumped and seemed to shrink into the walls as they saw Nova coming toward them. He was coughing even worse than Percy was. Aria was gone; no doubt Nova sent her out. However, it was obvious that Nova won the argument and Ray would have to go back to work.

The old man was white in the face as he gasped for oxygen. Hastily, he went to Ray's door and opened it without even knocking. He did not go in though. "Ray," Nova said in a sharp voice. "Get up its time to get back to work." With that Nova turned and went out the door, acting as though he didn't see anybody else. He didn't need to wait and make sure that Ray would come. Ray always came, no matter what. There was nothing Mark, Maya, or Ai could do about it.

"Yes Nova," a robotic voice responded even though Nova was gone. Immediately, Ray was at the door… although…

"Pffttt! HAHAHAHAHA!" Maya laughed, unable to contain it. She started to breathe out fire though it was in short blast thankfully. Mark and Ai looked dumbfounded. Henry was still asleep, but Percy couldn't help giggling. Lucas looked confused, wondering what's so funny.

Ray was standing there with a very nice drawn in black handlebar mustache on his upper lip and a couple of black freckles on his cheeks. There was also the word 'Stupid' written on his forehead. However, Ray seemed to not notice the fact that someone (Mark had a pretty shrew idea who it was) drew all over his face for he seemed to be quite confuse at the fuss everybody was making.

"That Yuma," Ai groaned, "I thought I already wiped it off!"

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Maya continued to laugh and had to stop a second to gasp for more air. Ray, however, still didn't seem to be able to understand what was so funny and decided to leave.

"Hold it Ray!" Mark said, grabbing the guy by the shirt, "We need to wash your face first." But Ray pushed Mark away.

"Nova needs me to go so I will go."

"Not looking like that you won't." Ai said, ignoring the laughter coming from Maya. She quickly snatched a paper towel and tried to wipe the stubborn Ray's face.

"No, no, no!" He kept trying to move so that the fine maker line became more of a smudge on his face.

"Hold still you!" Ai was filling with annoyance and rage and everybody could tell. The room was suddenly getting cold and ice was forming on the walls.

"Ai," Mark said in a warning tone but Ai seemed to be too distracted to notice.

"Now you look like you have a beard," Maya crackled, enjoying what she was watching. Suddenly, there was small tug from Ray's pants and he looked down to see Lucas for the first time. His bright eyes seemed to penetrate into Ray's.

"Hi there," Lucas said brightly, "Would you mind holding still for a second? It is very important." While Ray was trying to process the words Lucas was saying, Ai took the time to wipe Ray's face. Finally, the smudges were gone, leaving a clean face. "Okay, thank you." Lucas said. Without a word of thanks, the computer looking guy blinked several times before turning to leave.

"I swear, I don't what he would do with us." Ai sighed as she threw the paper towel in the waste basket. The room suddenly turned warm again and the ice was melting. Mark could feel his feet now at least.

"Anyways," Mark said, turning to Lucas, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well," Lucas said, "Nova said that we need an ifenti… idefy…"

"Identification card," Mark said, correcting the little Lucas.

"Yes, one of those," Lucas said, "And then he said we need to come here…"

"Lucas!" Nova's icy voice cried out from outside, "Get your scrawny self over here!" Lucas jumped and looked terrified.

"Sorry," he squeaked, "I got to go. Bye. It was nice meeting you!" With that, the little boy dashed out, leaving everybody in confused silence. Well, Henry was still snoring so it wasn't complete silence.

"He's an interesting boy," Mark said finally.

"He's human," Maya reminded the Wingull PM and scowled again. Ai couldn't help but to softly nod. She had trust issues with humans.

"And that's why we should hate him?" Mark asked. "I know humans as a whole can't be trusted but if we hated every single one of them without knowing them, then we're just as bad as those humans who treat us the same way."

"I do think he is not a bad person," Ai said, softly, "But I'm also afraid."

"I like him," Percy piped up definitely. "I think that the two of us will be good friends." Mark glanced at Maya as though waiting for her to make a comment but she just merely stared at Percy and said,

"I hope so Percy. I hope so."

…

Inside a factory…

Before the guards could figure out what was going on, they found a shadow jumped in front of them from above and blasted out a hot blazing fire. Screaming as the flesh on their skin started to burn, the guards flung to the ground, grasping their faces in withering pain. Leo and Justin ran past them, ignoring the horrible screams that were drowned out by the loud alarm noises. Leo's jacket was still smoking with smoke while Justin gritted his teeth for the racketing noises was disturbing his concentration. Every security camera they came across was immediately melted by Leo's flames though Justin had to duck each time since Leo had trouble controlling them still.

Running down the passage quickly, Justin and Leo, who both memorized the map, found themselves in front of the targeted door. There weren't any guards here since they were trying to take care of the others who were serving themselves as a distraction.

"Cover for me!" Justin said and went up to the steel door while Leo had his back to him in order to watch the surroundings. Justin inspected the door and tried pushing the door though he knew it wouldn't open. However, it proved that the door couldn't be opened by Leo's flames either. Not with the time they had. So they'll have to do it the old fashion way. Justin took out his Poke ball and opened it. Out came his blood red Scizor who stared calmly at the steel door.

"All right Scizor, use Bullet Punch on the door!" Justin ordered. The bug Pokemon raised one of its large red pincers and it glowed brightly before slamming against the steel door, causing it crumple like tin foil. Justin took out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

"Delta One, we're in."

"Good job Firebird," Donovan said. He sounded tired but pleased. "I'll be there in a second. Hold down the fort or else abort mission. Over and out." Justin placed the walkie-talkie back and saw in a brightly lit white room, weapons hanging on the wall and neatly placed on the ground. Running on a tight schedule, Justin immediately inspected the entire doorway and room, looking for signs of traps before determining that it was okay to step in without disarming more things. Justin pulled out a device with complicated circuits of wires and started to punch in numbers to give Donovan a real GPS signal to follow in case the guy made a wrong turn which was highly likely. Then quickly, Justin grabbed a couple of the different types of guns and started to place them into a bag that he was carrying. Scizor merely stood back, watching the room for any hidden traps that Justin might have missed.

Almost immediately, Donovan appeared in front of Leo. Behind him was his Gengar.

"There were no guards in sight," Donovan said gleefully. "Well, the only ones that I saw were dead so that doesn't really count. You did a good job Firebird and 'I'm a Doofus'." Justin flinched at the sound of Leo's code name. Despite his annoyance of Leo's chosen code name, Justin still had trouble keeping a straight face. His Scizor glanced at him with a questioning look though didn't say anything.

"No problem," Leo said in a dull tone, not laughing at Donovan's words though Justin could have sworn he saw a glint in Leo's eyes.

"I'll handle the rest. You guys head out. Gengar will guard me," Donovan said but paused immediately in front of the hole where the door once held. "Firebird, did you knock the door down without asking first?"

"Did I knock on the door without asking?" Justin repeated in question form, wondering if there was some trick to it. Donovan sighed exasperatedly and shook his head.

"Firebird, how many times do I have to tell you? Ask the door politely first before smashing it down. You just ruined a beautiful looking door without considering its feelings." Donovan then turned to the crumpled door in front of him.

"I apologize, he can be insensitive sometimes."

Justin had an incredulous look on his face and saw Leo staring at him and who seemed to be saying 'And you're saying he's not crazy?' look. However, Donovan didn't see this exchange of looks for he was now busying looking at the weapon storage room and quickly went inside. After pulling out his sketchbooks and pencils and looking at one of the designs of the guns, Donovan started to draft a rough copy with ease as though he had photographic memory.

"Guess we'll wreak havoc elsewhere to keep the guards off track," Leo said and the two immediately went down the hall where they came. They came upon a rather large door with a handle that Justin turned to open. He immediately recognized it as a locker room where the employees came to store their uniform and such. After a quick scan with his Scizor to make sure there weren't any suspicious people, Justin decided that the room was safe.

"Leo, switch!" Leo didn't respond. "Leo!"

"What? We're not using code names?" Leo asked sarcastically but nevertheless, he faced the room while Justin faced the door this time. Without needing a glance, Justin knew that Leo was immediately burning up the entire place. Justin could smell the burning acid coming out and could taste the flames in his mouth.

"Well at least we did one good thing today," Leo said walking out calmly as though he just came back from a stroll in a park. "Destroying senseless fashion for the good of mankind."

"Sometimes, I don't know if you're joking or being serious." Justin muttered as he watched the flames engulf the entire locker room.

"Well, the day we start wearing those clothes is the end of the world."

"Isn't it the end of the world already?"

"Well not yet," Leo said, thoughtfully, "But the deadline is close so might as well try to defend ourselves as much as possible." Justin sighed as they continued to the next room to destroy. It was then that Scizor immediately stopped and before Justin or Leo could figure out or say anything, the red Pokemon pushed both of them back just in time before a laser blasted at the spot where they were just standing. Stumbling to the ground, Justin and Leo immediately got into a battle stance. Leo's back started to smoke again.

"Give it up, infiltrating here is pointless," a cold voice said. "Especially now that I'm here."

Justin and Leo looked around to see a pale skin 21 year old guy with shoulder length hair standing a couple of feet away from them. He had on the typical Galactic uniform with long black pants and white moon boots. His space shirt had a large yellow 'G' symbol in the front. However, unlike the other grunts, this guy had a spiked ring (slightly stained with blood) on his left hand and was wearing a large black trench coat as though to hide the space clothes.

Justin noticed that the guy's stone cold gray eyes seemed to slightly glowing red. That was when Justin realized that the guy's hand had a reddish glow and it hit Justin. This enemy must have some special psychic ability. However, Leo didn't seem to notice and merely glared back.

"Although I'll applaud you for destroying the locker room," the guy continued, nodding to the burnt room behind him. "They might actually decide to change the uniform designs now that you've destroyed most of the stock."

"So I'm not the only one who thinks its ugly," Leo said, getting up. He said this rather calmly but Justin could tell that there was an edge in the Typhlosion PM's voice. This time, the back of Leo's shoulder burst with flames which looked pretty intimidating given the shadow appearance. "Why don't I burn the one you're wearing as well to support the cause?"

"I think not," the guy smirked, obviously not afraid, and held up his hand. This time, Justin realized what the enemy was doing.

"Stay back! He's psychic!" Justin yelled. Leo faltered for a moment and was suddenly pushed back, hitting Justin's Scizor in the process. Both flew several feet away as though a huge wind punched them straight in the stomach. Justin immediately sidestepped as quickly as possible though he still got hit with such force on the shoulder that it felt like a baseball bat had struck him. Justin could feel that his bone breakpain erupted.

"Leo! Are you okay," Justin asked, grabbing his shoulder painfully. Leo responded by getting up from the ground. His lip had a cut and blood was dripping down his cheek. There was rage in his eyes. Scizor got up as well, sustaining only a small wound.

"So you're name is Leo," the guy said, in an amused tone, "I guess if I know your name I should introduce myself." He turned to face the two. "My name is Pain. Remember it well, since it's the last name you'll ever hear again."

Leo and Justin gave Pain (obviously a nickname) a furious look at Pain who was obviously pushing both of their buttons.

"Since both of you manage to withstand that, maybe you will let me have my fun a little bit longer." He smiled but it just made him look more diabolic than before. Justin gritted his teeth. This guy was tough. No doubt what he just did was psychic powers. There wasn't an even playing field to begin with. No doubt it would be fruitless to try and run away.

"Guys! We can't play around anymore. We're using Strategy Two!" Justin yelled. Leo and Scizor nodded. They knew what plan this one was. Leo increased the intensity of his fire on his back. Immediately, Justin's Scizor, focusing intensely and moving its hand in a clockwise motion, suddenly unleashed a strong Razor Wind, causing the flames on Leo's back to push forward like a tidal wave. Justin had flattened his body to the ground so as not to get burnt to a crisp.

The flames were eating everything in its path and immediately swallowed the slightly surprised psychic guy. These flames were strong enough to burn anything in its path. For a good five minutes, the fire continued to roar before finally stopping. Justin got up and was pleased to see the flames still going in front of him... until…

"Is that all?" Pain asked rhetorically. As the flames cleared away, Leo saw that his flames didn't do a single thing. The guy simply made a barrier around himself. Even the floor within the clear barrier was left without being scorched. His eyes were now glowing entirely red, giving a slight chill down Justin's back. "Come on, fight better. You're boring me to death already." This time, he raised his arm and curled his hand as though he was holding a cup. The gesture may seem harmless; however, Justin immediately found his throat being squeezed. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.

"Justin!" Leo yelled and immediately glared at Pain who had a pleased expression on his face as he clenched his fist tighter and tighter. Justin was grabbing his throat as though trying to remove the invisible hand clenching it. "YOU!" Leo and Scizor immediately charged forward, but the guy merely put out his other hand as though to say 'stop' and again, Leo and Scizor were thrown back.

"Really now," Pain said, sounding bored now, "I've been going easy on you so far and this is the best you can do?" He turned to stare at Justin who was gasping but still glaring at the psychic guy with genuine hatred. For some reason the look bothered Pain. "Hmph, guess I'll finish this torture off right now."

However, before he could so much as break Justin's neck, there was a large shadow over him. Pain just barely had time to sidestepped before the shadow's leg came crashing down and causing the floor to crack. Pain's surprise caused him to lose concentration and released the psychic power on Justin who immediately gasped for air and was breathing deeply, the color was returning back into his skin.

Pain looked to see that it was a rather tall girl with long tan hair. She had torn brown pants and a red feather-like shirt. Her red eyes glared at Pain's now grey eyes. Without missing a beat, the girl's wrist burst into flames and the girl immediately slammed her fist to Pain's face. However, the guy quickly dodged it.

"Hmph, so you guys have back up." He sounded a little bit displeased.

"Ashe?" Leo said, staring at the Blaziken girl who just saved them. Scizor flew to its trainer to make sure he was okay. Justin seemed fine and was now struggling to get up.

"We got called up as back up. Donovan asked us to help you guys out when you guys didn't respond to his call. Luckily we found you guys in the nick of time," Ashe said calmly before Leo could ask what she was doing here.

"We?" But as though to answer, Justin's question, there was a strong blast of power that, this time, slamming against Pain and causing him to fly a couple feet away.

"What? Who?" Pain looked around angrily and saw a strange guy with gold brown hair a couple of feet away. His eyes were glowing blue.

"You're not the only one with psychic powers," the guy said calmly. He sounded angry with a slight tone of sarcasm. Pain, who had a shock look before, immediately turned it into that diabolical grin.

"Fuuta?" Justin gasped in surprised. What was Fuuta doing here?

"Excellent! You're perfect for me to torture once I take you prisoner!" With that Pain immediately sent a strong shockwave that was directed at Fuuta who didn't really have time to dodge and got hit. However, Ashe retaliated by trying to punch Pain again. This time, she managed to make contact and Pain was sent sprawling to the ground. Pain scowled and charged toward Ashe who jumped into the air to avoid the assault.

Pain merely grinned and thrust his hand upward, causing Ashe to get hit and slammed against the ceiling before crumbling down to the ground. Ashe felt like every bone in her body was broken. She didn't get up.

"Stay out of my fight you pathetic monster!" Pain slammed his boot against the Blaziken PM's head.

"You!" Fuuta immediately concentrated and tried to push his mind through Pain's head but was surprisingly pushed back. Pain must've trained himself to make barriers around his mind. If it wasn't for Spirtomb's Psychic attack, Fuuta would've been pushed back yet again by Pain's psychic attack. Soon it was a battle between the two – Pain against Fuuta and his Spiritomb. Pain, despite his injuries, had the upper hand since Fuuta was rather wary of using his own power. He couldn't just go full out without thinking of the consequences first.

"Come on!" Pain roared in glee as Fuuta defended himself from another of Pain's attack, "Don't tell me that this is all your pathetic backup can do!"

"Oh yeah, well you better turn your attention here now!" Pain turned around to see Leo in front of Scizor and Justin. "Take this!" Again, a strong blast of fire came surging toward Pain.

"HA! Useless!" Immediately, Pain raised both of his arms again to surround himself in a spherical barrier. The fire, once again, was pushed to the side and around like a rerouted current. "Again, with the same tactics, you won't be able to win like that."

"You're right," a soft voice said, "we wouldn't be able to win if it was just that." Pain suddenly felt something stabbed through his stomach. He looked down and saw the silvery tip of three sharp knives. The holes they created were dripping with blood.

What the…? How?

Pain turned around and looked down to see to his horror a young girl with long white hair. She couldn't have been more than nine years old. In fact, she barely went up to Pain's waist. She was wearing, to Pain's surprise, a white kimono that stopped at her knees like a skirt. It also had long wide sleeves that were patterned with a light blue color. A red ribbon was tied around her small waist and she was wearing black leggings. One of her hands was thrust into Pain's back where he felt the stabbing pain.

What the-? How did she get past his barrier that even those pesky kids' fire couldn't get through? It was then that Pain saw that this mysterious girl's feet were missing inside his own black shadow as though the darkness had absorbed the girl's feet. It slowly dawned on Pain that the girl had the power to use his shadow as a means of hiding. And thanks to the fire, the mysterious girl managed come out of his more amplified dark shadow and attack from behind. Plus, with both of Pain's hands in use, he wouldn't be able to retaliate, much less hear this girl coming up from behind with the roar of the flames.

"I can feel it. Your soul is drowned with sinful karma." The girl looked up and Pain immediately felt his fear creeping up when he saw the girl's scarred eyes. She was blind. There was no emotion in the girl's face. She wouldn't hesitate to kill him and that was something even he didn't want to experience yet. Then she spoke again, this time in a very soft whisper yet Pain could hear every single word.

"Do you want to try dieing today?" and with that the girl pulled out her hand, revealing that her three long blades attached directly to her hand. The silver blades were stained with red. As though time had slowed down, Pain watched as blood spurted out from his body as he crashed to ground. He watched as some of his blood splattered onto the girl but she didn't react as she listened to her victim crash to the ground. She couldn't see, but she guessed that it must be a pretty painful way to die. The droplets of blood slid down her face yet no reaction. Some slid down her eyes like tears like a… a… a...

A demon… that's what she is… a demon…

**Author's Notes**

Oooo, looks like we get to know more about Assassin's power. :O

Well that was weird going from light hearted jokes to deadly death mode. O.o

Okay, some news. For those who do not know, please go to my forum and check out this link I have posted on my newsfeed for my friends who are competing in a dance competition.

Anyways, moving on, let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

**ZXCVBNMEM**

**KoreanoWaltz**

**Dreadly Rise**

**Light-Sakura**

**Assassin42**

…

That's it from me. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	11. Splitting Up Again

**Disclaimer: I can't own Pokemon**

Hey guys (and gals), new chapter! Woo!

Course, this isn't a really long chapter but I feel like taking it easy with the pace. Kind of need to focus more on DPTT.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 11:**

Justin watched as the man called Pain crashed to the ground like a limp mannequin. Blood splattered everywhere and slid down the charred walls. The blind girl who gave the deadly blow stood calmly and remained motionless as she listened as her victim fell. The girl didn't even flinch as the blood hit her face.

Leo immediately went over to Ashe, the Blaziken PM who got knocked out by Pain earlier, and checked to make sure she was okay. Assassin slowly moved away from the body. Justin noticed that her shadow (which was large after swallowing Pain's shadow) had shrunk and turned back to normal size.

"Could you guys give me a warning next time before you go all 'hey, let's destroy everything in our path'?" Fuuta called out as he came over. His clothes was slightly singed and his face had a nice crispy look though it was probably because Justin's and Leo's attack had mercilessly blasted everywhere suddenly. Ashe was okay since she had fire powers and was slightly immune to such an attack.

"Oh, you didn't get our message telepathically? Or was there bad connection with the universe?" Leo asked in a sarcastic voice. He and Justin's Scizor lifted Ashe up to her feet. She had blood dripping from her forehead but it was probably from the boot that smashed her skull. She looked dazed and was limping but seemed to be okay.

_WAHAHAHA!_ Spiritomb snickered as he telepathically shared his thoughts to everyone. _He got you there Fuuta._

"You really like to make fun of psychics don't you?" Fuuta said, scowling slightly both at Leo and at Spiritomb.

"I prefer the word 'psycho'," Leo shot back. Justin knew that though Leo was pretty bitter to most humans (a very good example would be Donovan) he would really say much and avoid them. The only times was when he was forced to be near them or was in a terrible mood. Leo must be in an extremely bad mood because he rarely seemed interested in fighting with words against Fuuta who glared back angrily as well. It seemed that there were sparks flying in the air now. Justin decided to intervene before they had something else started.

"Look, can we just get… you know, out of here before something else bad happens?" Fuuta groaned and nodded while Leo fell silent.

"Fuuta, we need to go. Now." Justin almost flinched with shock as he noticed Assassin right behind him. The girl was so silent that even a shadow couldn't make less noise than she did. Plus the forcedness of her voice seemed to suggest that she was assigned as the leader of the group. If Fuuta didn't follow her orders, she wouldn't hesitate to cut him down to size.

The blood on Assassin's face was still on her face though surprisingly, none on her white kimono. It was as though they had been magically protected or something. Her bladed fingers left a trail of dripping blood from the path she took.

"D-did you kill him?" Fuuta asked uneasily as he eyed the motionless body before him. There seemed to be an unsettling silence; even the alarm ringing in the air couldn't penetrate it. Even though they all had seen Assassin killed so many times, it was still disturbing. She was Lucas' age and yet she assassinated like a professional. This was not right…

"Of course not," Assassin said calmly in a soft voice. Justin noticed how the blades slowly shrank and reverted back into long 'normal' pale fingers as Assassin spoke. Doing so, removed any traces of blood on her hand. "I stabbed his stomach, not his heart. If I was taller, maybe I would have." That comment brought chills to Justin's body despite the temperature in the hallway.

"Besides," Assassin continued on as though she was merely discussing the mundane weather, "I have to leave him alive long enough for you to deal with him." Fuuta looked uneasy at Assassin's calm and cold demeanor.

"All right, hold on a second. Spiritomb, come here," Fuuta said. He quickly went over to Pain whose dull eyes glazed back. Carefully, Fuuta closed his eyes and carefully pressed his two fingers onto Pain's forehead. Spiritomb floated next to its trainer and closed its maniac eyes as well. Fuuta's entire body glowed blue and didn't fade until he opened his eyes again. Justin noticed that the psychic trainer looked slightly pale though.

"I got the location and password. It's the place we suspected where it was held though security is tight. All we need to do is go down this hallway," Fuuta said, still shuddering slightly as though he was doused with cold water.

"_And I never want to read this… monster's mind ever again."_ Spiritomb added telepathically, sounding sick. It looked at Pain as though he was the mutated freak. Now Justin and Leo were curious. What things did Fuuta read in that guy's mind?

"Okay, good, let's go then," Assassin said, ignoring Fuuta's last comment. It was amazing how she managed to walk past debris and stuff as though she could actually see them.

"Wait, hold it!" Justin said, suddenly realizing that their backup (minus Ashe) was just going to leave now. "What are you guys doing here in the first place? You didn't come here as back up." Fuuta shot an uneasy glance at Assassin which was kind of strange since she was half his height. Assassin turned to the sound of the voice though she couldn't really look directly at Justin's eye since she didn't really know where they are.

"What did you expect?" Assassin asked rather harshly at Justin. "Do you actually think Nova cares whether or not you complete this mission?"

"That useless human expects us to die?" Leo spoke up sharply. The name Nova seemed to have triggered Leo's bitterness toward the man. But then again the name always triggered bitterness among PMs.

"Hey, is everybody okay?" Ashe asked groggily from Leo's shoulder. She seemed to be coming around now and looked puzzled at the situation unfolding before her.

"Hey, Assassin," Fuuta said in a sort of warning tone. "Don't go saying stuff like that…"

'If we had gone ahead to complete the mission instead of agreeing to your demand to make a detour and save your pathetic comrades, we wouldn't be behind schedule. You should have had hurried off and finished that guy instead of dancing around like a bunch of sissy princess fairies, and Ashe wouldn't be in such a state either." Assassin was definitely in a bitter mood and she quickly walked off without another word.

"Wait! What about Ashe?" Assassin didn't reply to Fuuta's question and continued to walk away. Apparently, she either thought Fuuta could take care of it himself or she didn't even care about Ashe's condition.

_So, what now boss?_ Spiritomb asked to Fuuta. He contemplated for a while before saying anything.

"We got to go. T-take care of Ashe for us okay?" Fuuta said quickly to Justin who just stood there motionless. Leo glared at Fuuta as though daring him to act more like a leader. "Right," Fuuta said, taking Justin's silence as consent or maybe he read Justin's mind and knew not to press for a spoken answer. "S-see you later." With that, the psychic left and followed Assassin.

Leo didn't say anything. He simply waited for Justin to say something.

"Right," Justin said finally and in a quiet voice, "Leo, contact Donovan and tell him to retreat. We need to get Ashe back for medical attention."

"I'm fine," Ashe said firmly, "Really." As though she wanted to prove it, Ashe tried to stand up on her feet by herself. Unfortunately, she lost her balance quickly and would've fallen to the ground again if it wasn't for Scizor.

Leo made sure Scizor had a good grip on Ashe before walking over to Justin who hasn't spoken at all and seemed to be shaking, though not from fear. "You sound pretty mad, not the mad scientist mad, the other kind," Leo said slowly. Leo's sarcastic mode seemed to have died down a little bit and seemed to be back to his moody self. He knew Justin long enough to tell when he was furious. There was a sense of aura around him that gave off intense but silent rage.

"Aren't you?" Justin asked. His voice had a slight hard edge to it and sounded slightly bitter.

"Well, I'm always mad at Nova so I can't really say if I'm madder than usual. Now that I think about it, I should've expected something like this from him." Leo paused for a moment before talking again. "But right now, I'm more concern for Ashe's safety," he said wisely.

"You're right." Justin sighed. He felt his anger simmered slightly. He'll deal with Nova at a later time. "All right then, help me with Ashe. The guards will be here soon." With that the two humans, one Pokemorph, and one Pokemon left the scorched up hallway.

…

Fuuta waited a good thirty feet away from Assassin as she did her job. He used his psychic powers well to scan the area and report telepathically to Assassin in case of any guards. So far none. Well there was one but after being notified by Fuuta, Assassin quickly used her shadow powers to hide. Easy stuff.

Most of the people were trying to take care of damage on the opposite side (done by yours truly – Justin and Leo) or they had already ran away though how far since there were people from the Resistance on the outside, Fuuta could only guess.

"Okay, Assassin," Fuuta said telepathically, "The door has a security camera that will attack anyone who it doesn't recognize so you need to…"

"Done," Assassin replied back before Fuuta could finish, "Now what?" There was a moment of silence. "Well?"

"Err that was quick," Fuuta said, still trying to gather his thoughts.

"I just blasted upwards, it wasn't that hard."

Fuuta hated when Assassin took care of things before he even finished notifying her. It was like trying to inform someone with news that they already knew and they finished your sentence for you. There was that tone in Assassin's voice that made Fuuta feel… inferior despite the fact she is way younger than he was.

"There is a retinal eye scan," Fuuta said, finally figuring out what to say. "Blasting the door open without taking care of that scan will cause major traps to be activated. We need to shut it down from the inside."

"Well that's your job unless retinal scan can inspect blind people's eyes. Get your useless self over here you idiot."

"Yeah, I'm coming," Fuuta muttered as he hurried over while still using his psychic ability. He felt like saying something nasty about the blind Pokemorph in his mind but his connection with Assassin was still there. If he tried to shut off his mind to vent his anger at her, she would figure it out and wouldn't then hesitate to freeze him the next time she saw him. Fuuta could still feel the frostbite on his hands from the last time he felt the wrath of Assassin.

Fuuta saw Assassin staring at a white wall. Well actually, she wasn't staring (since she couldn't see) but more like facing the door. It was camouflaged so perfectly that if not inspected thoroughly and carefully, one would have passed by. There wasn't even a line on the wall to show where the door was.

"There you are," Assassin said, not even turning to Fuuta. "Hurry up and let's get this over with." Fuuta noticed that there was a small retinal scan that popped out from the wall and was waiting to do its job.

_Gosh she's bossy_, Spiritomb thought though he made sure only Fuuta could hear it.

"I wouldn't be bossy if we didn't waste time earlier," Assassin replied as though she had read Spiritomb's mind.

_Oh snap_, Spiritomb thought, _she's a better mind reader than you are Fuuta_. The psychic trainer ignored his Pokemon's comment and lined up his eye with the retinal scanner. As it tried to scan his eye, Fuuta immediately sent out a rather strong psychic wave through and the retinal scan absorbed it. Fuuta could feel his powers channeling through the wires that connected to the camera and felt it reach the main source where all the data and memory was stored. It immediately attacked it and short circuited the memory card. The wires sputtered from overload and fused out. Then it was quiet and even the retinal scan faded back to darkness.

"There we go," Fuuta panted slightly. He was exhausted. Using his powers like this was rather exhausting, especially after delving into a person's mind and using it to make a clean sweep of intruders. "I wished we could've had Ray to help us but… oh well. Hold on, I'll open-."

Assassin didn't hear a word that Fuuta said and immediately slammed her fist against the door. Upon contact, the door immediately froze and the amount of ice increased until the pressure and the weight was too much that the door shattered in large chunks of frozen pieces.

"The door," Fuuta finished lamely and then groaned. "You could've let me finished my sentence."

"I got bored." The blind girl stepped inside the dark room.

_Hahaha, she's taking a leaf out of your book_, Spiritomb snickered. Fuuta realized that his Pokemon was referring to the time when Fuuta blasted the computer room's door open when Nova's rage was going out of control and the crippled man was about to finish off Justin.

_That doesn't count_, Fuuta snapped at Spiritomb but the Pokemon ignore him and continued to laugh. After a couple of minutes, they realized that there was a curious beeping noise going. It took a while for Fuuta to adjust to the darkness but he soon slowly could make out the faint outline of a computer and hundreds of data disks lined up in neat columns.

"Not really my style of a room but it'll do. What are we looking for?" Assassin didn't respond to Fuuta's question and immediately took something out of the sleeve of her kimono. Fuuta saw that it was a complicated looking hacking machine in the shape of a small thin box. Assassin pulled out a wire from it and (with some difficulty) felt her way around the computer to find a place to plug the wire in. She almost knocked down the computer in her haste and made quite a bit of noise.

"You need help?" Fuuta asked finally and reached over to take the wire.

"What?" Assassin snapped, her voice icy cold, "You don't think someone like me can find the plug?"

"N-no," Fuuta said, immediately backing away. He could feel a chill in the room that was emitting from the young girl. "I just… well…" Assassin was touchy on the subject of 'Oh I'm blind so that means I need to get help from everybody'… which was the reason why Fuuta got frozen into a big block of ice last time. "You know, it might be… faster if I do it?"

_Dude_, Spiritomb thought, _do you want to get killed from talking stupidly?_

Assassin seemed to ignore Fuuta's lame explanation and immediately continued to search by using her hand to find the location on the computer where she could place the plug. When she did, Assassin immediately placed the wire to it and the machine immediately flashed on and complicated list of numbers started to scroll through.

The dark computer also flashed and turned on by itself, emitting light in the dark room. Screens started to pop up but what they say, Fuuta couldn't tell for they seemed to be showing a rather complicated data of a program. The psychic guy merely looked around and waited. Spiritomb kept an eye on the open hole where the door once stood.

After several long painful silences, the hacking device finally beeped to signal that it had done and shut down the computer as though nothing had happened before.

"Done," Assassin said, looking up when she heard the sound.

"Any idea what information we hacked out of the computer?" Fuuta asked, trying to strike up a conversation. Plus he was curious. Assassin didn't respond and left as quickly and silently as usual. "I'm going to take that as a 'no.'"

…

"Well now, looks like you're in a bit of a pickle," the man said as he watched at his feet the almost dead Pain on the ground with amusement. "I didn't join in the fight since you said that you could take care of it by yourself, Pain. Or should I say, _Smerten_." The man emphasized the name as though he enjoyed it. All alone in the scorched hallway, a strange man with finely cut white hair and his face was clean shaven except for the finely trimmed goatee. This man was standing before Pain. Like the red psychic, the man was wearing a large black trench coat over his Galactic uniform though this white hair man's seemed to look fancier. The man's weathered hands and face suggested a long history and wisdom to have survived so long.

"Sh-shut up," Pain coughed and spat out blood. Apparently, the sound of this man's voice was enough to anger Pain back to consciousness. "Get me out of here. I want my revenge." The man sighed as though he was annoyed with Pain's constant demands.

"Ever heard the word 'please'? Besides, bringing you back from near death, not really my style, but you are our best torturer in the group so can't really say no either…" Taking a Poke ball out from one of his trench coat's many pockets, the man sent out a Dusknoir. The ghost Pokemon hovered over and its one red eye looked rather menacingly.

"Let's get this guy to the infirmary." Dusknoir nodded and lifted the almost dead Pain off the ground and left. A nice trail of blood followed them.

The old man looked back at the large pool of blood before him and recalled what had happened just moments ago. He was in one of the hidden rooms that were specifically made to camouflage with the background. The man had watched everything through a microchip that was implanted into Pain's eyes though without his knowing. After watching Pain close to victory, the old man noticed that the enemy's backup had come. Curious, he decided to hold back and even had to use the special device that could cloaked and negate psychic abilities to scan for him. That psychic kid with golden brown hair didn't even notice him which proved that technology can beat useless so call talents like Pain has.

The man turned his head toward the direction where those two guys and one PM girl had tried to escape off to. He decided to let them go. After all, they managed to give Pain a good beating and anyone who could do that deserved a medal. Plus, he was way more interested in someone else – the one who actually managed to stab Pain and leave him at near death. There was that rare spark of hunger inside of him – the hunger of playing the hunting game."

"Well now," the man grinned, turning toward the other direction. "Looks like Pain wasn't completely useless. He managed to perk up my interest in the Resistance again. And unfortunately, that's bad news for them."

**Author's Notes**

Well, no Lucas. But at least we're treated with some cliffhangers.

I'm curious about the old man in the end. Who is he? Lol.

No big news really except that updates are SUPER slow from now on. I don't know when I can start writing more but we'll see.

Well let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

**N the puppet**

**Phanter black**

**SagaAuraMana**

**ZXCVBNMEM**

**Assassin42**

**Light-Sakura**

**Koreano-Waltz**

…

thanks for reviewing and I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	12. The Return

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon**

Well now, the hiatus is finally over. I'm finally back in a writing mood. Can't promise much with updates. They're going to be slow for a while.

We have two new OCs to introduce. Hiro from **cubejuner **and Gavin from **Gold Forever**. They'll be playing an important part in an upcoming arc.

And thanks S**inCityAssassin** for editing this story.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 12:**

"Here, let me carry her. You two should go and get those wounds treated." Donovan looked worryingly at Justin and Leo. They had managed to get back underground and into the tunnels. None of them were in very good condition when he met up with them. After hearing about what happened, Donovan decided that the best thing to do right now was forfeit the mission and retreat. However, the diversionary group distracting the guards hadn't left by the time they got back to base.

"No need to. I can take care of it." Justin and Leo replied simultaneously. They still had their pride despite the situation. As long as they were able to stand, they didn't want any pity. Justin's shoulder was in definite pain after the rush of adrenaline was gone; Leo had quite a few bruises himself from being smacked around the warehouse room.

"You two both have impeccable timing, you know."

"Don't push it Donovan," Leo growled. "I'm in a foul mood today," Despite his injuries, Leo was using the rest of his energy to carry the tall Ashe. She was still woozy and kept fading in and out of consciousness. Donovan didn't' think it was too serious but wanted to get Ashe back to the Resistance base as soon as possible just to make sure.

"And here I thought that was your default mood," Donovan said deadpan, earning him a scowl. "Look, I'm worried okay? You all need rest and first aid; I don't want you guys to start storming into Nova's office so rashly like this."

"Who says we are?" Justin asked, though he didn't seem to deny that they were going to do just that.

"You guys don't have a good poker faces if you know what I mean… and as much I want to give Nova a piece of my mind too, we need to recover and discuss this with the rest of the team." Donovan said wearily, he clearly did not anyone to jump the gun on this topic and get severely punished. There was a long silence as Justin and Leo sink this new piece of information in.

"Fine," Leo speaking up. "We'll hold off on it. _For now_." He had that look that said 'Don't you dare try to stop me' that Justin knew so well.

"Well that's dandy then," Donovan sighed a breath of relief before realizing something else he should mention. "Oh, and Justin, you gonna drag Ashe all the way to Dr. Aria's office? You sure you can manage that with your injuries?"

"Urgh, you're right. I'll need to go to the other infirmary first. I'll go and see Dr. Riech." Donovan grimaced slightly at the notion. Dr. Riech was one of the only other doctors at the base, who only saw human patients. He's a bit bitter and refused to treat PMs under normal conditions, but was otherwise a perfectly good doctor. The times he would treat PM patients were far and few, and only if Aria clearly needed extra hands. Well, Dr. Aria could always use an extra hand but in dire situations (when Nova tells him to) Dr. Riech would come and help.

"Why not let Dr. Aria help you?" Leo asked, slightly surprised that Justin didn't seem to be interested in getting Aria to help. "You sometimes let her check out your injuries."

"She should be tending to Ashe's wounds first, if I'm there that's just more work for her and less attention to Ashe's condition," Justin said simply and left in the opposite direction. "I'll stop by Doctor Aria's office later to check up on Ashe. Then I need to give Irene something."

"Who?"

"The tough lady with the "Life sucks, get over it" tattoo on her arm," Justin said. The silence coupled with Donovan's arched eyebrow meant the description of the lady didn't click in his mind. "Umm, Ivory Fist."

"Oh, Ivory Fist eh? She's scary… gives a very nasty haymaker. Why are you meeting with her?"

"No reason in particular," Justin said simply as he walked to the infirmary. After all, the only reason he was going was for a certain Larry, it's not very important to divulge.

"I bet you're giving her a looooove note!" Donovan jokingly yelled; when there was no response from Justin or Leo, Donovan sighed and turned to the Typhlosion PM. "So I don't suppose you know if the guy's got any scarlet ambitions?"

"Does it look like I know? Or even care?" Leo replied in an uninterested tone, clearly not as curious as Donovan was.

"Well," Donovan sighed, shaking his head, "I'll help you get Ashe over to the-."

"No need," Leo stated flatly and pushed on forward with Ashe on his back. "You can leave now." Donovan opened his mouth to object but Leo merely glared back with such intensity that Donovan felt better to just shut his moth. There was a moment of silence before Leo continued to talk, this time in a harsh whisper.

"Here's a piece of advice. Don't expect that just because you're with me that any PMs are going to just consider you as a friend. So back off." There was a bitter tone at the last part. Leo turned around and left as well, his warning hung over Donovan's head as he shook his head.

"Geez, well excuse me princess, ain't all about you, you know," Donovan said out loud when he was sure Leo was out of earshot. "Man, I don't understand his attitude sometimes…or most of the morphs for that matter. Doesn't really bode well now, does it?" The venom in Leo's message ruined Donovan's mood at the moment, so he decided to head back to his quarters to rest for a bit. He didn't particularly care if Nova was going yell at him later for turning in an incomplete set of blueprint copies. In fact, Nova should hope that he wasn't debriefed soon; else he was going to get a massive group of very unhappy and murderous people at his front door. As he bit into a wafer bar he took out of his pocket, Donovan chuckled to himself as he walked to his quarters.

"They'd probably beat him like a piñata."

…

Lucas looked on, curious at the wires being attached to Ray's body. The blue stabilizers that floated near him circled around in a slow, almost lazy state of motion. Nova watched as a couple of technicians rewired the whole system. Every moment they wasted meant an advantage for the enemy. After all, a defenseless grid is just there for the taking.

After the incident with Ray got out of control, the cleaning crew was forced to long hours of cleaning up the area when Ray had come back from the hospital trip. The door, unfortunately, was still not fixed and Nova had placed Nat there to keep guard; he had almost nothing to do after he tried to force Ray from the hospital.

"Is everything ready? I'm getting impatient." Nova spat out as he slumped in his wheelchair. His mind was still on the argument he had with Aria earlier today, so he felt like venting out his anger on anyone in his vicinity.

"Almost done, Mr. Nova," one of the techs announced quickly who was eager to get the job done so he could leave; he wasn't the only one. Each tech was working as though there was a gun pointing to their head. The only person in the room who didn't seem to fear Nova's presence was Ray, who calmly sat in his chair obediently, not affected by the harsh gaze. After a couple of tweaks and adjustments with the wires, the technicians quickly got up and prepared to go.

"We're done Mr. Nova. We'll be leaving." With a quick bow of both respect and mostly fear, the men quickly left in a hurry. Lucas remained silent as he watched the whole thing.

"Hmph, about time…" Nova grumbled as he started to have his coughing fits again. When he stopped, he looked over his report and began speaking his orders, "Ray, start the data transfer to the new computers and boot up the backup data. _Now_." Immediately, the computers hummed to life and long strings of numbers flashed on the screen. Nova turned to the frightened Lucas as if he noticed him for the first time and dug something out of his folder. Nova handed him a small rectangular card, "Here, this is your identification card. Don't lose it."

Lucas, his hands shaking slightly, took the card and looked at it. There was a picture of his face on one side along with his name and information listed.

"Th-thank you," Lucas said politely.

"Now get out of my sight. You're not allowed in here," Nova said, not even looking at the boy. He pointed with a withered gnarled hand to the open hole on the wal. Lucas instantly obeyed, but before he left he turned to face Ray, who was in a deep, machine-like trance. It seemed he wouldn't be noticing Lucas any time soon. Oh well.

"Good bye Ray!" Lucas said grinning. "I'll see you tomorrow." And before Nova could churn out an angry comment, the little boy was gone in a flash – probably the first time that boy ever moved that fast.

"Bah, cheeky brat," Nova snarled. "He's going to be a handful that one." There was a sudden chirping noise coming from one of the laptops attached to Nova's wheelchair. The grumpy man pushed a button and read the note on the screen. He was silent for a few minutes and then…

"Nat! Get in here." The tall muscular teenager stormed in from his guarding post. "I need to come with me to the meeting room."

"Yes sir!" Nat saluted obediently and had a hungry, excited look on his face.

"Ray, you're to finish your job. Do not crash again or I'll have your hide." With that, Nova left with Nat at his tail and leaving Ray all alone. The only company the teenager had was the sounds and whirls of the computers around him.

…

Lucas… was officially lost. He had no idea where to go and there wasn't even a map down here to show him his location. Truthfully, Lucas didn't even know where to go now even if he knew where he was. He sighed as his stomach growled. He was getting pretty hungry after everything that had happened today and he definitely wanted to get some food first.

_"So if you're hungry, let me know and I'll come with you. We can talk there."_

That's right. Leo…

He said to meet up with him for food later. Well, at least Lucas knew what to do now. However, where in the world was Leo? Maybe someone could give him directions. Lucas looked around him but there seemed be no one in the vicinity of the dark tunnel that was willing to help him or even noticed him for that matter.

"Lucas?" Lucas turned at the sound of his name and saw a familiar face.

"Hey," Yuma smiled and quickly went up to the boy. "We keep bumping into each other. Must be fate." She gave a silly grin at the boy's blank stare before changing the subject. "You got your identification card?"

"Oh yes," Lucas said, puling it out but before he had it in his hand, Yuma had already snatched it from him.

"Hmm, you look so weird in this picture," Yuma said, inspecting the card, "All that chubbiness…"

"Hey give it back!" Lucas exclaimed trying to grab for it. But Yuma was tall enough so that all she had to do was stretch her arm high up and Lucas would only be grabbing air.

"Nah," Yuma said, sticking out her tongue. "There is no need to give this back to you."

"Idiot, give it back to him." Yuma and Lucas both jumped in surprise at the sudden voice. Yuma turned around to see a blond, disgruntled young man behind her and whose eyes were giving off an illuminating blue aura.

"F-fuuta?" Yuma squeaked in surprise. Without warning, the ID flew out of her hand and into his as though being controlled by some invisible force; the man's eyes quickly dimmed down to brown. "What are you doing picking on the little people? That's a bad habit you know."

"Yeah, whatever," Yuma said, sticking out her tongue. "I thought you were on a mission." Fuuta raised an eyebrow at Yuma's unruly behavior but ignored it for the time being.

"I was and I'm finished. I came back to see if Ashe was okay when I spotted you here."

"Darn, how unlucky," Yuma grinned sheepishly. "I better watch my back more thoroughly."

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" Lucas peeked out from behind Yuma for the first time and finally gotten a good look at Fuuta, whose face became instantly strained.

"Oh, this is Fuuta," Yuma said, quick to introductions as usual. "Fuuta, this is Lucas. He's the newbie of this group."

"Nice to meet you Fuuta," Lucas said, bowing slightly. However, Fuuta didn't return the greetings and stared at Lucas in complete and utter silence.

"You, you're…" Fuuta's mouth couldn't seem to form full sentences.

The boy looked curiously at Fuuta's gaping expression, but before either one of them could say anything, Yuma grabbed Lucas' arm and pulled him away.

"Sorry to cut the greetings short Fuuta," Yuma grinned. "But I got some business with this guy. Later!"

"Wait!" Fuuta finally called out when he managed to find his voice but it was too late. The tunnel had swallowed the two into darkness. Spiritomb, who had been hiding in the shadows this whole time, slowly appeared. There was no waiting sarcasm in its voice.

_Fuuta… were my eyes deceiving me? That kid looked just like…_

"No! What is he doing here?" Fuuta looked down at the identification card he took from Yuma (who had forgotten to get it back to Lucas) and the card confirmed what he had just seen. There was no mistake. No one else in the world could have the same face as that guy… Fuuta could feel the shock in his body, trying to deny what he had just seen. This was not supposed to happen. _How? Why?_

Immediately, Fuuta could feel the unpleasant memories swarming back – the guilt, the shame, the sadness.

…

_About Eight Years Ago…_

A Fuuta in his twenties raced down the streets as fast as he could, despite the storm that was ravaging the area. His clothes were soaked and his shoes were filled with puddle water, but he didn't care. He had to get there before that guy did something stupid again.

Running past warehouses after warehouses, the streets were consumed in combat. Pokemon battles, actual brawls between the trainers themselves, innocents running in every direction just to get out of the area. All this and Fuuta didn't care about what was going on at the moment.

"Spiritomb! Take care of the battle out here!"

_But, I should go with you!_ The Pokemon tried to protest against its trainer but Fuuta wouldn't hear it. He had to do this alone.

Finally, Fuuta reached the area his senses were telling him to go to. Without skipping a beat, Fuuta busted the door open with his foot. What he saw had his heart sun, there was a definite battle here: scorch marks on the ground, large broken crates skewed all over the floor, and a large mob of Galactic grunts standing before him.

"Well, well, wellll, looks like someone was a bit late for the climax of our play," Mars said as she turned to see who the intruder was. The red hair commander was standing over two bodies lying in a pool of blood. "It was such a shame; they had fought so bravely without you."

"NO!" Fuuta screamed in horror as his own nightmare flashed before him. Before he could control himself, his psychic powers spiraled out of him in a fit of rage and desperation. Crates flew everywhere; the windows shattered completely. The force was strong enough to knock away many of the grunts unconscious and sprawling across the floor. Mars stood her ground as her Magnezone took the brunt of the onslaught.

"You're too late, psychic boy! Team Galactic has won this war!"

"Don't you _dare_ think you'll getting away with this! YOU HEAR ME?" Fuuta roared, as he outstretched his hand to prepare a kinesis attack, but Mars just grinned and immediately made a gesture at herself, disappearing in the blink of an eye. It was as if she teleported out of the area.

His target gone, Fuuta screamed in frustration before he managed to calm down enough to control his powers again and rushed to the aid of his fallen friends, ignoring the unconscious grunts sprawled around the warehouse.

"D-Daniel!" Fuuta grabbed Daniel, who coughed up blood in response. Daniel's wounds were incredibly severe and he didn't have the energy to move on his own. The psychic placed Daniel against the wall and then turned to Shiki, who was still the entire time; her skin was cold and was ghastly pale. Her eyes were closed.

"Shiki! Shiki!" Fuuta immediately laid Shiki face up, started to do CPR. His hands were covered in blood but Fuuta didn't care as he continued to try. "Shiki! Wake up! Wake up!"

"It's too late… Fuuta," Daniel whispered. There were tears in his eyes. Fuuta slowly stopped and was forced to face the truth. He looked at the blood at his hand and gave an anguish wail that echoed in the empty warehouse. Daniel hung his head. He too was filled with sorrow. Immediately, Fuuta turned to Daniel.

"YOU IDIOT!" Fuuta roared in anger. If it wasn't for the severity of Daniel's wounds, Fuuta would've beaten that guy all over again.

"Ha, ha," Daniel said, giving a weak grin at the nickname he was so used to being called. "You shouldn't have come…"

"Stop making a joke out of this… why didn't you just hide? Why did you have to go out and fight? WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?" Fuuta knew that yelling and blaming Daniel wasn't going to solve anything but the frustration inside of Fuuta was too great for him to care at the moment. Shiki was gone and now…

"I'm sorry," Daniel said slowly as though it hurt to talk. He was breathing heavily now. "I couldn't just let you fight by yourself and Shiki…" He groaned in pain as he felt his life slipping away from him. His vision was starting to get blurry.

"IDIOT!" Fuuta repeated the word though there were tears streaming down his face now. "You're the stupidest person I have ever met."

"And you're the nicest person I have ever met. Thanks for trying to save me in the heat of battle," Daniel said, giving off that goofy grin that Fuuta always saw on Daniel's face. Fuuta fell silent, realizing that Daniel knew he didn't have much time left; this was his way of saying goodbye… No. Fuuta refused to believe such a thing.

"I'm... I'm going to get help," Fuuta said quickly as he stumbled to get up. "We're going to get you healed and when this is all done, I'm going to punch that goofy look off your face…"

"Fuuta…" Daniel interrupted softly.

Fuuta's voice quickly died at the sound of his friend's dying voice.

"Fuuta," Daniel repeated. "Lucas… he's still alive." Fuuta's face immediately perked up. Alive?

"W-where…" Fuuta struggled to speak, "where is he?" Fuuta realized that he could at least still save Daniel's son.

"Please take care of him," Daniel whispered, "As a last request from your dumb friend. Please, I-" Daniel couldn't finish his sentence as he violently coughed out blood and his eyes became unfocused and still; his body slid down the wall and hit the floor.

"Daniel! Daniel! Daniel, hang in there!" Fuuta grabbed Daniel and shook him slightly, but that was no response. He was gone.

The reality of the situation hit Fuuta like a waterfall; his friends were gone, and their child is nowhere to be found. Losing the feeling in his legs, he sat there in front of his fallen comrades, wilted, with nothing but despair in his heart.

…

_Present Day…_

Nova was in the meeting room as he read the information. He didn't say anything and just muttered to himself. Around him were three senior members who had just received the shocking news.

"A traitor?" Larry spoke up, his only arm draped over the side of his chair. "Are you sure about this?"

"Are you questioning me?" Nova said in a gravely, irritated voice.

"Ah! No, no," Larry said immediately, not wanting to get Nova in an even worse mood. "I'm just saying how that is possible? We have Ray keeping tabs on them."

"Still, it would explain recent events," a thirty-five year old man with brown wavy hair with two wavy bangs on the side of his head. Despite the darkness of the room, he had on some shaded glasses as though the small light still hurts his eyes. He had a sharp look and seemed the flirtatious type though his gray eyes show nothing but seriousness now. "I've noticed how the Resistance has been increasingly unprepared for a lot of the reconnaissance missions so far. It's almost as if Galactic knew where to look."

"Gilder," another large, stout man whom everyone merely called Captain interrupted. He was a rather old-looking, though not as old as Nova and definitely a lot buffer, and a particular feature on his body was the hook where his left hand should be. "The enemy is making note of the threat we pose against them. Of course it's getting more and more difficult than it used to be, they're slowly focusing all their forces onto us," his voice was deep and resonated across the room.

"Well, maybe," Gilder said, though he sounded unconvinced. "But understand, Captain, that we can't ignore the possibility." He fiddled around with his drink on the table before taking a swig.

"Man, this is getting nowhere. How can we be sure if there is a traitor?" Larry interrupted.

"I will deal with the traitor," Nova interrupted this useless conversation, "I want you all to be on your guard, have some of your men look for any signs of suspicious activity. We'll get this bastard yet, if it's one of the last things I do." The three men fell silent, but nodded.

"Moving on to the next task," Nova said, "Our informant has told us that the new target is the Fuego Ironworks facility north of Floraoma.

"That dilapidated factor?" Larry gawked at his superior, "What would they want to do there? The place has been decaying for the last 5 years."

"I agree," Gilder said as well, "I know there are refugees there, but they're vehemently unaffiliated to our cause."

"Quit interrupting," Captain grunted and mumbled to himself about how kids were so disrespectful to their adults these days.

"The plan isn't going to take place for a while," Nova said, "Which is why we must gather all the information possible about the place. I want some scouts sent in."

"I'll do it," Gilder said, standing up. He was wearing a black stylish blazer with matching pants. The two handheld pistols in their holsters on the belt tied around his waist glittered in the dim light.

"Gilder," Captain grunted, "Don't make the decision yourself."

"Oi, I just want to help out a bit. Besides, I'm itching for some fresh air. I've been down here way too long."

"Very well," Nova said, calmly after thinking carefully. "Bring me a report in two days. This meeting is adjourned."

"Yes sir." With that the three men left, leaving Nova by himself and his thoughts.

Although, they sounded skeptical, Nova knew that there was definitely a traitor in the Resistance. Nova only told these three men because they were the only ones he knew for sure that could 1) keep a secret and 2) couldn't in any way be the traitor. Now the only question left was how to lay trap to find the traitor quickly before something goes terribly wrong.

…

_Somewhere in the deserted Fuego Ironworks…_

The factory was spacious, abandoned for years after the galactic incident; refugees loitered around like scared Pokemon and they kept in tight knit groups, despite the vacancy. There wasn't really trust between most of them; they were only in the factory for shelter from the harsh bitter weather and nothing more. They have however kept a watch guard going, their jobs to keep out intruders from their shelter. Besides these agreements though, every person and family was on their own, finding food and water was a matter of first come, first serve.

A young boy haphazardly carried a large bucket of water into the building and to a misshapen tent. It had been a while since he last had a blade to his black hair, so it had grown a bit long. His loose gray sweater hung on his body, underneath it a torn red t-shirt. He looked terrible, exhausted from all the labor; he was burning the candle at both ends. Behind him was a small Buizel, who curiously followed the boy.

"Mom? Are you there?" He said as he open the flap of the tent. From the small bundle of blankets, a young woman looked up at the sound of the boy's voice.

"Gavin? Did you get the water? Oh my goodness, you should have worn a jacket, you know how freezing it is out there," she was rather thin, her face etched with exhaustion just like her son. Her jet-black hair was messy; it seemed she didn't have enough time to brush it properly. She stood up and got out of the tent.

Carefully, Gavin's mother took a small kettle and started a small fire. "I've managed to scour some food. We can have a little feast today." She opened a small jar of tiny frostbite berries and smiled though Gavin could tell that it pained her. It was a pitiful feast under normal standards. Nevertheless, Gavin smiled as well.

"Sure mom. It will be great." Gavin and Buizel huddled together around the fire for warmth. It basked them like a hot relaxing bath. While they were waiting for the water to boil, people were moving around and some were gossiping very close to where Gavin and his mother were.

"Hey did you hear? The Resistance might come here to recruit people."

"As if," the other voice scoffed, "I wouldn't join those people even if you paid me pounds and pounds of gold nuggets. Joining them is basically like declaring suicide."

"But still," another voice piped in, "I'd join them if that means I can get my hands on those criminal grunts. Staying here is like admitting you're a dirty coward submitting to Galactic rule."

"Be my guest," the other voice sneered. "I may be a coward, but at least I'll live longer than you."

"Mom," Gavin piped up, "The Resistance, maybe we coul-?"

"No," Gavin's mother said firmly. She didn't need to hear another word and stroke the fire to make sure it would still be burning. "We're not going to become lapdogs for a bunch of renegades." Gavin wanted to say more on the matter but his mother was done with the subject. She got up and went over to the tent to bring some utensils she had forgotten.

Gavin was lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't understand his mother's staunch objections to the Resistance forces; it was certainly better than living in fear every day in a ragged tent inside an abandoned iron factory. His mother told him fighting was bad but in times like these, what else can someone do for a better life? His thoughts were broken when he heard a commotion outside his tent.

"Say that again to my face!" a voice yelled angrily. Gavin looked out his tent to see a young kid, about his age, shouting at an older, bearded man. The scrawny, black haired kid had on a torn yellow jacket and blue jeans. His white undershirt was covered in oil stains.

"Buzz off," the bearded man snapped, "I have no time dealing with little kids. The Resistance ain't for tykes like you."

"I'll show you who's a kid!" The youngster snarled and started to charge at the man, only to be held back.

"Hiro, stop!" the man ordered as he grabbed the kid by the collar of his yellow jacket. This man had a thick barreled chest and strong working hands. He turned to the bearded man. "I apologize. I'm this kid's uncle. I'll make sure he won't bother you again."

"Hmph, you'd better. For his sake," the bearded man shuffled away, muttering to himself.

"Hiro, what do you think you're doing! Don't harass a man like that," the uncle scolded his nephew. The two were already attracting several people. It wasn't everyday one would see people argue out in the open.

"But Uncle Harris," the kid protested furiously, refusing to admit his wrong.

"No buts, now get back to your room."

"What room? We live in a tent." Hiro asked sarcastically but he left nevertheless with a grumpy look on his face.

"Oh dear," Gavin's mother sighed as she witnessed this scene, "that child certainly looks like a handful. Gavin, stay here while I get some more fire wood." Gavin had watched this whole exchange in silence and merely nodded at his mother's words. He sighed, gazing forlornly at a window far into the factory, it was clear enough to show the sky, before it was hastily covered by more snow.

He wonders how much longer he has to live like this.

**Author's Notes**

Well, looks like we got quite a few new characters that are going to be important later.

Anyways, news time. Anybody know about the Black and White 2 game coming up? I saw the protagonists and I must say, the guy looks pretty awesome. I love his hairstyle for some reason. The girl's style is pretty cute but… she looks like a mouse with that hairstyle.

And it looks like there are new gym leaders – poison and water. I wonder if that means there are going to be more than eight gym leaders.

Also, Pokemon Conquest coming soon to US. Anybody played it yet? How is it?

All right, moving on. Let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

**WildCroconaw**

**Flashfire360**

**ChillinLikeaVillain**

**Whitoath**

**DreadlyRise**

**N the puppet**

**BattleWithYourHeart**

**Phanter black**

**Light-Sakura**

**ZXCVBNMEM**

…

That's it from me. See you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	13. An Unfortunate Henry

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon.**

Hey everybody! Wow, it's been so long since I last updated.

Anyways, nothing much to say except enjoy!

**Chapter 13:**

"So… this is the place."

"Yeah, that's the one…"

Two cloaked strangers lay on their stomachs. They were camouflaged, as it were, and their outfits matching every color and hue of the rocks they hid behind. Both of them each had a small rifle scope up to their eye.

"Ugh, this place is just deplorable. I should've stayed home and enjoyed a nice drink by the fire. And geez, what's with the wind here? It's freezing."

"Oh shut up, Gilder, we didn't come here for vacation. We have work to do, and for the record, I didn't even plan to come out here, but _you_ came along and got me into this job," the man bit back, obviously not in a good mood in the presence of his friend.

"Ergh, touchy aren't you?" Gilder pushed back the hood to reveal his brown wavy hair and his tinted glasses. He expertly raised an eyebrows, something he claims was a hit with the ladies. "Girl problems?"

Gilder's friend didn't and busied himself with the focus of his lens and looked at the target. Finally taking a hint, Gilder resumed back to spying. There were several shaggy-looking guards posted outside, all of them had an uneasy look on their faces. Nevertheless they looked every which way, keeping a lookout for both intruders and themselves.

"Hmph, they don't look the confrontational types. They won't fight unless they're absolutely sure everybody else will back them up. How long do we work undercover?"

"More than a month," Gilder muttered. "We need as much information as possible. Apparently, whatever Team Galactic wants in this place, it's huge."

"Well, yeah I can see how big this place."

"Plus, we need to get some of these guys recruited if we can."

"These people are scared, not idiots, they won't to trust us. And unfortunately, we can't really trust them either." Gilder knew that his friend was right. Giving out information was risky, which was why Nova was extremely secretive with his plan. He didn't trust the people who were working for him. No one knew what the big picture was until he felt ready to share.

"With my charm, I'm pretty sure I can get one of them to talk," Gilder grinned playfully, hoping for a smile of forgiveness. Although, Gilder couldn't see his friend's face, he can feel the guy rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Hey, it'd do you a little to smiled once in a while."

"I don't fake smiles just to make other people feel better." Gilder frowned. His friend had a bitter personality ever since that incident; he really didn't believe in much anything besides the cold, hard truth nowadays.

"You know. Sometimes a beautiful lie is better than an ugly truth," Gilder said smoothly, a he had given this phrase a lot of thought. A deep silence followed and Gilder decided to change the subject.

"We should get going. You ready?"

"Yeah," For the first time during the trip, the guy took off the hood of his cloak. It revealed a lean face with nasty scars that were even worse than Irene's. There was a burn mark on his cheek as well. Just one look was enough for people to know that he wasn't a man who had a good life, nor was someone to mess with. "Let's go."

…

_Back at base…_

"What happened?!" Mark gaped as Leo brought in Ashe into the hospital ward. Maya was about to be discharged when the tall Typhlosion PM suddenly barged into the room. All happy thoughts of leavingd evaporated from Maya's mind as she led Ashe to the nearest bed. Even Henry was looking somber at the sight. Aria dropped everything and rushed to the medicine cabinet.

"No, no, not good. Ai, I need you to go to the storage and bring some painkillers." The Glaceon PM nodded and hurried out of the room.

"Hey, everyone," Ashe groaned as though even talking was painful. Mark and Maya, wanting an answer to this situation, looked at Leo.

"A guy named Pain did this," Leo explained as Aria did a quick check on his injuries though he brushed her aside.

"What did he have? Grenades?" It was hard to believe that Ashe could be taken down by a single human.

"Team Galactic aren't the only ones with a psychic," Leo responded darkly. Aria's face turned pale as Leo told the whole story.

"No, that's impossible," she said it in a rather shaky voice.

"Well, you better believe it," a voice called out. Everybody turned and Leo immediately scowled.

"Captain…" The large beefy white hair man with a hook for a left hand strode in. He didn't smile. Then again, he never smiled. Captain was the strongest man with the most influence (after Nova of course) in the Resistance. He had a lot of experience in battle and even his words of wisdom were thought highly of by Nova. Captain was more 'kind' than Nova though. At least Captain was easier to get along with than Nova, which was saying a lot.

"It is nice to see you Captain," Aria said, though in a guarded tone. She had some bandages and was dabbing Ashe's wounds with disinfectant.

"I was going to come in to tell the news but it looks like Leo beat me to the punch." Captain gave a gruff-like bark that sounded like it was a failed attempt of a sarcastic laugh.

"How did you know?" Leo demanded. Surely Justin or Donovan didn't already go to Nova.

"Assassin," the man responded in a deep voice, "She just gave Nova a report of the man you kids call 'Pain'." Captain gave a snort of disbelief; clearly believing the name was ridiculous. Leo frowned. He was furious Assassin had reported in already. Now Justin's and Leo's complaints would not have the importance they wanted to address to that lying scumbag. "Anyways, everybody needs to be notified and some new rules are going to be applied."

"New rules?" Maya said warily. Mark looked slightly scared. New rules were never good.

"Well, this Pain guy may not be the only psychic Galactic has, so we decided to beef up our defenses. Psychic PMs are required to get into the fray now or at least any of them with some sort of psychic power. We can't have another fiasco like today, which is why I need Henry." Captain gave a nod in Henry's direction. The whole time the Haunter PM seemed to be dazed and slightly puzzled when he heard his name.

"Henry?" Aria stopped what she was doing and looked blankly back at the Captain.

Mark gaped in shock and Maya looked as though she didn't know if she should laugh or not. Even with all the irrational things Henry had said before, Captain certainly sounded crazier.

"You can't be serious," Mark finally said, breaking the stunned silence.

"Since when am I not?" Captain's cold eyes stared directly at the Wingull PM.

"But Henry is not fit for battle! Have you ever heard him talk?"

"I'm having tea with Fozy," Henry spoke up as though proving Mark's point.

"Which is why I'm going to train him for battle," Captain explained with a hint of impatience now, "I know our psychic PMs always turn out… problematic. But Henry is by far the sanest of the lot. At least, he'll be able to do the job."

"You can't!" This time it was Maya who spoke. "The last time Henry tried to fight, Nova almost…" Maya's voice faltered and she looked frightened. The once strong and stubborn Ninetails PM looked close to tears. Leo was silent throughout this whole ordeal.

"Captain," Aria spoke up finally, "Psychic PMs are dangerous and rare in numbers because not only does the person have to be compatible with the Pokémon's DNA, but they also need a strong mind. Psychic powers are too overwhelming and they need mental strength so those powers couldn't themselves or anyone else. I mean, look at Ray. He lost his memories after he tried to exert his own powers and he can't even express emotions anymore. And Henry… well, he isn't someone who should fight."

"Then he has no reason to be in the Resistance," Captain said, no hint of sympathy in his eyes. "If he can't fight, he's nothing but dead weight."

"Captain!" Aria said sharply. "Henry is _not_ dead weight!"

"Then he will fight," Captain said angrily. "He has the ability to stop someone like 'Pain'. That ability is a great service to our cause."

"Fighting is not the answer! But of course that is what all humans think, isn't it? That's the only answer progression. For once, couldn't you just try to understand us, rather than treat us like weapons?"

Captain's eyes glared furiously at Aria, but he didn't say anything for the longest time. Mark looked terrified as he eyed the menacing hook. He knew if this was Nova, he would have physically hurt Aria and she wouldn't be able to fight back. On the other hand, Captain had a code of honor. He would never hurt a fellow member because of a disagreement. Still, Mark could feel his blood pumping as though he was in another intense battlefield.

"If Henry doesn't fight," Captain finally said quietly, "others will have to take his place. They will not have his power and their blood will be on your hands as you allowed this to happen. Either you get him ready for training by tomorrow or Nova will have to decide what to do with him." With that, Captain left. The room was filled with an ugly silence that was only broken by Henry's cheerful yet haunting humming.

…

_Thirty minutes later…_

Lucas was exhausted. He had been dragged around with Yuma to look at so many different places. She gave him the full tour though with all of the dark passages and twists and turns, Lucas highly doubted that he would be able to find his way around here without a guide.

"And this is the gym," Yuma continued, showing a rather musty old looking room where there were several agents working out, "This is where we'll have our ninja throwing skill training." She pointed to a side of the room where there were crudely drawn targets and quite a few small indentations scattered around on the wall like somebody got a sharp pencil and started stabbing the wall.

"But I don't know how to," Lucas protested. The idea of throwing sharp objects around frightened him.

"Don't worry," Yuma explained. "All you have to do is stand still."

"Huh?" The clueless Lucas didn't notice the evil smirk on Yuma's face.

"Oh no, not you again." Lucas and Yuma turned to the sound and saw a blond hair teenager coming toward them. Lucas noticed that one of his arms was in a sling while the other arm was lifting weights. He had strange ears poking out of his head and a long tail that shaped into a lightning bolt at the end.

"Akira!" Yuma said brightly, "How is your arm?" The teenager boy scowled in response.

"You're not supposed to be here. You got banned for almost killing everybody here with throwing knives last week, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Yuma shrugged her shoulders, "But I'm only banned until next week. After that, I'm thinking about bobby trapping this gym with some bombs. OH! And maybe an electric field with some lasers."

"And that's why there were no reservations next weekend," the guy grumbled. He then noticed the bewildered looking boy behind Yuma. "Who's this runt?" Lucas immediately looked down at his feet as Akira continued to inspect him.

"Oh, that's right; you weren't at the hospital when he came to visit. Akira, this is Lucas. He's new!"

"I see," Akira scowled, acting as if he believed having a weak member joining the Resistance was pitiful. Lucas gave a futile grin and felt like he was getting smaller and smaller.

"H-hi there. I'm Lucas."

"Hmph, at least he has manners, unlike you, Yuma."

"What?!" Yuma sounded enraged, "I got plenty of manners. I just choose not to use any of them!

"Wait, now that I think about it, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you've been working out."

"What else can I do?" Akira frowned. "Because of this stupid arm, I've been laid off from missions for a while, so I've been bored all day."

"But Aria said not to do any strenuous labor because of your injury."

"Since when do I care about what she says?" Akira seemed to be in a bad mood, well, at least more than usual. His tail swung back and forth like a restless Ekans. Even Yuma understood something was up.

"What's wrong?"

"Nat…"

"Nat?"

"That guy that works closely with Nova." Akira remembered that day when Nat almost hurt Aria when she refused to let Ray leave the hospital without proper treatment. He could still see that guy's furious, disgusted eyes as they lay on her face.

Akira could remember the first day he met Nat. It was a couple of months after Akira had joined the Resistance. Nat had been specifically recruited after showing exemplary skills assisting a recon mission. The Raichu PM could his cold eyes and his sick interest in violence, and the way he kissed up to Nova made Akira dislike him even more. Anybody who can get along with Nova's twisted mindset was an enemy in Akira's book. But there was something about Nat that Akira couldn't quite place. Ever since their first meeting, Akira kept having this nagging feeling about him.

"What about him?" Yuma asked, not sure exactly who Nat was, but knew the deal – anyone working with Nova was bad news for PMs.

"Nothing," Akira sighed, not wanting to be pestered anymore with questions. "I'll see you later."

"Hey! Don't just leave me hanging!" Yuma was annoyed that Akira never finished his story. "Sheesh, I hate it when he acts like that." The ninja girl looked around, contemplating on what to do next.

"There you are." Lucas turned around and saw a lonely familiar face.

"Oh, hi Leo!" Lucas grinned as he looked up to the tall guy but immediately looked startled as he noticed the injuries. "Oh no! Are you okay?" Lucas pointed to the bruise on Leo's lip and the blood on his shirt.

"LEO!" Yuma grinned and hugged the Typhlosion PM who now looked awkward as he tried to remove the Aipom girl off of him.

"It's nothing," Leo answered Lucas' question while wrestling Yuma off, "Just a few scratches." Leo didn't say anything else about how he got his injuries. The poor boy will probably bawl into tears before the story ended. Leo looked rather uncomfortable, like he was gauging the best way to approach the kid. Lucas was too naïve and innocent, he looked like he couldn't even attack a fly.

Leo could hear the words coming from Captain's mouth. Lucas was like Henry in a way; they weren't meant to battle. What would Nova do to him when he realized that? Should Lucas learn how to fight… and to kill?

"Leo? What's wrong?"

"Come on," Leo forced himself to sound pleasant for Lucas' sake, "let's get something to eat."

"Okay!" Lucas said brightly.

"Yes! I'm starving!" Yuma grinned.

"I wasn't talking to you," Leo said harshly, but Yuma merely stuck out her tongue and dragged Lucas along with her.

"Come on!" Yuma said excitedly, "Maybe Justin will join us as well."

…

Ray was going through ever last bit of information in the computer. Despite the increase in workload, he didn't falter a single bit at the daunting task. The Porygon 2 PM had moved out of the original workspace to update the other computers and had been moved to Nova's debrief room for the moment. There was a 'ping' sound, notifying him that a visitor was at the door. Ray gave a quick glance as the person swiped his card and after realizing that the person wasn't a threat, continued on with his work.

"Hey there, Ray." Ray didn't react to the sound of his name as the door closed behind him. "How have you been?" Still no response.

"Would it kill you to talk?" Larry sighed as he walked toward the guy and gave a soft pat on his shoulder. Ray stiffened for a moment before relaxing again.

"Hey kiddo, can you do me a favor?" Larry sighed as he laid his only arm on the table. He was hesitant to ask Ray for help but now that Nova knew that there was a spy on the loose, drastic measures needed to be taken. He leaned over and whispered something quietly into Ray's ears.

…

Lucas had run back to his room, searching frantically around and under his bed. After finding out that he lost his ID card, which made him unable to go to the dining room, Lucas panicked as he looked around to find it. He was trying hard to retrace his steps, but he couldn't remember the last time he had it. This was bad; first day and he already lost such an important item.

Yuma was no help as she already went to go get Justin. Leo went searching in the other direction and told Lucas to meet up back at the cafeteria in thirty minutes even if he still couldn't find it. Lucas had to try really hard to recall where his room was as he was getting lost. With the help of Leo's good sense of direction, Lucas managed to find his room again. Though throughout the ordeal, it never occurred to Lucas that not once had he came to his room after he got his ID card.

It was dark and cold in the room, but Lucas wasted no time scourging in nooks and crannies to find the item. Even without any light, Lucas only took five minutes to search – there wasn't really much there to begin with. Lucas sighed dejectedly. Where was it?

"Looking for something?"

Lucas flinched. He didn't realize there was anybody in the room. He turned around and saw someone in the shadows and leaning against the wall. The stranger got up and walked toward him, revealing his blond hair matted with headphones. He looked strangely familiar.

"Oh sorry! I didn't see you there… sir!" Lucas instantly flashed him an embarrassed grin. The guy stared and slowly shook his head.

"Just like him…"

"Huh?" Lucas responded, a puzzled look on his face. "Did you say something, mister?"

"No, nothing." The man looked sheepish, not knowing what to say now. Nevertheless, Lucas waited patiently until the man finally said something.

"We met before."

"Really?"

"Yes, my name is Fuuta. We met earlier with Yuma, remember?"

"Oh, that's right." Lucas recalled the strange guy who was gaping at him. "Nice to meet you… again," Lucas bowed in reply. Fuuta didn't say anything and merely continued to stare at the boy. This time it was Lucas who broke the silence.

"Umm, is there something you need?"

"Yes. I wanted to return this." Fuuta held out a piece of rectangular plastic and Lucas recognized it immediately.

"Oh! My ID! Thanks mister!" Lucas gave a happy grin but it seemed to make Fuuta a bit more uneasy, "I've been looking for this everywhere!"

"It's Fuuta."

"Huh?"

"Don't call me 'mister'. Call me Fuuta."

"Oh, okay. Thank you Fuuta."

"Yeah," Fuuta said softly before continuing. "How are you?" Lucas looked up puzzled. He starts to realize that this was the first time someone actually asked him that since his time here, so it sounded kind of weird. Usually, people just kept telling him to do something.

"I'm fine."

"Everybody treating you okay?"

"Yes," Lucas bobbed his head up and down like an excited kid on his first day of school. "I made a lot of new friends. It's like a family here. Oh, my friend and I are going to get something to eat. Want to come?" Fuuta was silent and didn't seem to react to Lucas' talking.

"No, I'm kind of busy right now, but I came here for an important reason."

"Reason?" Lucas looked bewildered.

"I have something important to say."

"Oh?" Fuuta faltered, feeling slightly scared now.

_Come on_, Spiritomb said, _Don't chicken out now._

But what if he hates me.

_Are you kidding, he's exactly like Daniel! He needs to hear it anyway, sooner or later. You owe Daniel that much._ Knowing that his Pokémon was right, Fuuta took a deep breath before continuing his explanation.

"I… am going to teach you."

"Teach me?" Lucas asked, sounding wary now. The last time someone wanted to 'teach him a lesson' had in Lucas plunged headfirst into the business end of a toilet bowl.

"Yeah," Fuuta said, with a determined look on his face. "I'm a psychic." Fuuta's eyes suddenly glowed blue and the ID in Lucas's hand suddenly moved out of his hand and started to float in the air. Lucas's eyes were wide with amazement.

"Cool!"

"Thanks, but psychic powers aren't something you learn immediately. Talent comes into play here along with a lot of learning." The glowing blue in Fuuta's eyes faded out and the plastic card slowly landed back into the palm of Lucas's open hand.

"Oh."

"Which is why I'm going to be teaching you how to defend yourself from psychic powers."

**Author's Notes**

Now things are starting to make sense huh? Poor Henry. I fear the worst will happen to him.

As you all probably know, updates are a lot slower due to school work but please be patient.

Oh, for those who don't know, I have a new story up thought its not Pokemon. If you're interested in Percy Jackson series, come check it out. :D

See you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	14. Goal of the Day: Make People Mad

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon.**

Hey guys. Wow, I am on a role with all these crazy amount of updates. Unfortunately, that's going to have to stop now due to school.

Thank you **SinCityAssassin** for betaing this chapter.

Well, enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 14:**

"What? Why?" Lucas stared up befuddled, even a little frightened. He must have heard wrong. This very tall mister wanted to teach him psychic power, but for what reason? Lucas didn't even know the guy until today.

_Uhh, Fuuta, this is not what we agreed to do, remember? We're supposed to tell him about his-_

"Let's just say," Fuuta pushed out Spiritomb from his mind, "you're the chosen candidate… my protégé." His explanation merely confused Lucas even further. Fuuta forgot how hard it was to try and talk to someone more than twenty years younger than him.

"What is a 'candy date' and 'prote-'… 'proteg-'"

"Can-did-ate and pro-té-gé," Fuuta repeated his words slowly to the boy, "it means that I will teach you my knowledge so you can pass it on for future generations."

"Ohh...ok." Lucas still looked like he didn't get it, but he didn't ask any more questions.

_Oh my god, _Spiritomb groaned, _if it weren't for the height, I'd swear Daniel came back from the grave._

Fuuta felt a stab of pain in his chest that was quickly replaced a wave of anger from Spiritomb's comment.

_Oh,_ Spiritomb felt the killing intent from Fuuta, _too soon for jokes?_

"Just shut your trap."

"W-what?" Lucas looked frightened now and was trying to escape from his own bedroom. Fuuta's eyes were glowing into a dangerous blue. Fuuta remembered that he told Spiritomb that it could stay as long as it remained hidden during this whole thing.

"Oh sorry," Fuuta said hastily, realizing that he had spoken out loud, instead of mentally scolding the stoic Spiritomb. Taking mental deep breaths, Fuuta tried his best to calm down and sound less agitated. "Anyways, I just want to let you know that… I wish to teach you. That's all."

"O-okay," Lucas immediately looked down on his feet. The little boy didn't get it, but he learned that agreeing with the adult is the best thing to do, no matter what.

"I'll be busy, but I promise to come by and teach you at least once a week."

"Yes…"

"You don't need to bring anything," Fuuta explained. "It won't be easy, but the rewards are great."

"Uh huh," Lucas nodded. He still refused to look up.

"And one last thing. Don't tell Nova about this." Now Lucas' eyes made contact with Fuuta's.

"M-Mr. Nova? The man in charge of here?"

"That's right."

"W-why?"

"No reason really," Fuuta lied casually. If Nova found out, he'd have made sure that Fuuta would never see Lucas again. "Let's just say it's a surprise for him."

_Want me to bring balloons and cake?_

_Shut UP, Spiritomb,_ Fuuta snapped, this time remembering to keep the response in his head.

"Umm…"

"Yes?" Fuuta could tell something was on the kid's mind. No pun intended.

"Have we met before?" The question shocked Fuuta.

"What do you mean?" Fuuta tried to keep calm and distant. "We've met just a while back with Yuma."

"No, I mean… before that… You have this look on your face like you know me." Fuuta fell silent. The kid didn't look it, but he was astute in ways he himself couldn't understand.

_Just like Daniel was…_

"Sorry," Fuuta said finally, "But this is the first time we really talked." He might as well speak the truth sometimes.

…

_Ten years ago…_

"Wait a minute, hold on. You? Teach _ME_ psychic powers?" Daniel was about to take a sip from his fizzy juice but completely forgot about it as he stared at Fuuta. They leaned against the railing that towered over the dark forest below, watching the sunset. A flock of Starly were flying off into the distance and the buzz from the Kricketunes and Kricketots resonated loudly from within the black forest.

Fuuta could feel the stare, but he ignored it and focused his gaze on the center of the red and orange mixture painted across the sky. He pressed his lips firmly together. He wasn't going to say what was _really_ on his mind.

"Fuuta, did I hear you correctly? Are you seriously asking a guy like me?"

"Yep." There was another long silence before Daniel spoke up again. He sighed and shook his head.

"Fuuta, last time I tried I got was a bloody nose remember? And that was the only thing that happened. Face it, you and I both know that I not cut out for this whole psychic stuff…zero compatibility," Fuuta didn't respond. Of course he remembered. Everything Daniel said was true. Heck, the bloody nose was an understatement; Daniel had to be rushed to the ER because the bleeding wouldn't stop. He went through ten boxes of tissues along with two days of serious blood transfusion before he was considered stable.

"Look, I don't know what's going on since I'm not a natural psychic, but if you're feeling like an outcast because of your ability, you should know that-"

"**That's not it!**" Fuuta snapped angrily and perhaps too harshly. He turned just in time to see the stung look on Daniel's face.

"T-then what is it?"

Fuuta didn't respond again and just looked back at the sunset. But Daniel simply waited for an explanation. He was good at that.

"Did you really think the reason would be as selfish as trying not to be an outcast? Why don't you go through my shoes for once, and realize how it feels for your best friend to never once appreciate your abilities?!"

"Huh?" Daniel looked shocked. Another stunned silence before he spoke again, this time in a panicky voice.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on! I thought I was your best friend! Why would I not appreciate you? Is this what you wanted to talk about? Are you trying to say something about our friendship?!" Even after being friends with him all this time, Daniel was still as confounded as he ever was when put into a spot.

"You idiot!" Fuuta yelled. He couldn't believe that he still had to spell everything out. It made the whole melodrama look utterly pathetic. "You're still my best friend!"

There was another silence as Daniel slowly started to realize what Fuuta was saying. And when the recognition registered in his eyes…

"Oh ok, then what is it then?"

"It's just… you! You are the one who doesn't acknowledge my usefulness or appreciate what I can do!"

"A-appreciate?" Daniel looked horrified that his own friend could think such a thing. "Fuuta, I admire your psychic powers. I really do."

"Then why? Why didn't you even let me help you?"

"You're the only guy I trust who can open pickle jars. That is super powers right there you know."

"NOT THAT KIND OF HELP!"

"Then what are you talking about?" Daniel sounded impatient now, wanting Fuuta to get to the point, the one he seemed to have kept bottled up for the past few weeks. Suddenly, the psychic grabbed Daniel's arm and jerked him forward; he was wearing long sleeves in the summer heat.

Daniel tried to pull Fuuta away from his arm, but Fuuta managed to grab the end of the sleeve and pulled it back to reveal Daniel's skin.

"THIS is what I'm talking about!" The skin on Daniel's arm was covered severe burn marks, along with a long, jagged puprle scar mark that ran down to the wrist. It was healing, but the color suggested that the wounds were still fresh. It was a horrible sight that would've made anyone gaped in horror. Daniel jerked his arm away from Fuuta's grip and quickly hid it; the secret was finally out in the open.

"H-how?" Daniel didn't seem angry about the reveal, but he was shocked and frightened.

"I'm a psychic, remember?" Fuuta's gaze seethed through Daniel's weak defense. "But I also noticed how you avoided using that arm for the last two weeks."

"It's just a few burn marks…" Daniel muttered defensively, "Nothing serious."

"Does Shiki know?"

Daniel flinched at the question and then responded quietly. "No, she doesn't know…"

"Yeah, of course she doesn't. I don't need to be a mind reader to know you're _that_ predictable."

"Fuuta, please… Don't tell her."

"What happened?"

"Why are you asking me? Aren't you going to mind read me for that answer?" Daniel sounded angry now.

"You know, listening to people's voices inside my head is not good for my health or my psychosis analysis." Despite the sarcastic joke, Fuuta didn't smile and crossed his shoulders across his chest. "Start talking. NOW."

It was an order.

Not the type of guy who could stay mad, Daniel merely looked back sadly. Fuuta had a guess what was going on through his friend's head. Despite Daniel's stagnant displays of emotion, Fuuta had changed a lot over the past few months. His cheerfulness was replaced with a more moody seriousness. Maybe it was because of the rumors of an inevitable war looming above their heads. Regardless of the fact that the area they resided in was a supposed safe zone, Fuuta knew that this meeting might be the last one they would ever have.

"I didn't tell you this," Daniel started slowly, "but I was traveling to Twinleaf Town, when I heard noises at Lake Verity. When I checked it out, I found myself surrounded by those Galactic grunts…"

"Wait…Daniel… You didn't…" Fuuta regarded his friend with shock, "don't tell me you were the one that defeated the Team Galactic lake encampment…" Daniel refused to acknowledge anything, and that was the only answer he needed. Fuuta felt like he just received a huge blow to the head, even with his powers this tidbit of information didn't even register.

During then, Fuuta was out training at Snowpoint City. News from down south reported of an attack at Lake Verity. A lone trainer, whose identity wasn't given for protection, defeated most of the entire company stationed there. Although it was amazing for one trainer to fight off an entire army, Fuuta didn't find it too much importance, even with rumors of a Team Galactic commander at the site; there were so many raids like that all over the Sinnoh region.

"They sort of overblown it, their group was smaller than a company. That Mars woman was a lot stronger than I expected," Daniel said grimly and looked away, "Magmortar got a serious pummeling."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Daniel didn't say anything and merely continued to drink from his can of soda. He was clearly avoiding the question.

Fuuta slapped the can out of Daniel's hand. The can clanked against the ground, spilling liquid everywhere. Fuuta was furious now. He grabbed him by the collar; the roles were reversed now.

"ANSWER ME DANIEL!"

…

_Present day…_

The wind had finally died down by late afternoon. The guardsmen around Fuego Ironworks were able to have a reprieve from the constant gusts. Almost all of them had Pokémon– many of them common.

Not one really spoke much, but then again, they weren't really friends. Pleasant conversation would find its way into the shift on occasion, but trust was something really hard to gain among them.

"Hey," one of the men grunted after scanning across the area with his telescope. He motioned the others into position.

Two strangers, both wearing heavy cloaks, calmly approached the facility. And strangers were never good news. The guards became alert; the few that carried weapons readied them for a clash. The two cloaked beings came to a complete stop when they noticed the hostile aura of the men before them. The Pokémon growled menacingly and were ready to attack at a command.

"State your name!" One of the guards yelled out over the edge.

"Ah, hello, hello, sorry for the intrusion," the man removed the hood to reveal his face, the man in front of them looked to be in his late thirties, his hair a dark shade of brown and shades adorning his face, "I am Professor Buchner! You may call me Professor. Most people do actually; it just sounds more important, doesn't it?" The man gave a rather cheery grin and the guards were hesitant for a moment. They didn't lower their guard, but they were curious. Why would scientist would be all the way out here?

"If it is not too much trouble," Professor Buchner continued in his tweedy sounding accent. "Would you mind calling off your Pokémon and lowering your weapons? Guns pointed at me tend to scare me to kingdom come." The other man made some odd coughing noise, but didn't say anything. It did grab the other people's attention.

"What about your lovely friend over there? Let him show his face as well."

"Well, this here is my friend Watson!" Professor Buchner said in his friend's stead. "He is my assistant and friend. He is a bit sensitive to the cold so you'll excuse him for not removing his cloak. Nasty weather here as you know."

There was an uneasy silence and the group huddled together and spoke in hushed whispers.

"Idiots," Gilder (aka Professor Buchner) sighed, returning to his normal voice, "This is too easy it's insulting. Look at them just turning their backs to us."

"I wouldn't blame them, if I had to talk to you for the first time," Gilder's friend (aka Watson) whispered. "And seriously, what kind of name is 'Buchner'?"

"What? I like it. Makes me sound very smart."

"You named yourself after a fermentation chemist. Unless you plan to drink yourself to hell and back, you two have absolutely nothing in common."

"Kill joy."

"And here I thought you were the professor."

"State your business!" Gilder looked up to see that none of the men had lowered their weapons, and they were rather eager to use them. Perhaps these men were desperate for some action.

"Really, gentlemen," Gilder said, returning back to his terrible accent, "Me and my colleague are merely weary travelers. We just need shelter for a short while."

"You aren't welcome here! Not unless your friend shows his face." It was clear that they were adamant on knowing who was under the other hood. Gilder had many jokes running through his head at that moment that would go unfulfilled.

"Come on," Gilder whispered, "Take one for the team."

"Well, I refuse," the man hissed back. Gilder knew that his friend was extremely touchy of allowing just anybody to see his face, but when he snapped like this, things were turning from bad to worse. And sure enough, before Gilder could convince his friend otherwise…

"I refuse to take off my hood!"

"Get off our property then!" Gun cocked now and Gilder could see the beady angry eyes from Pokémon around.

"I'm sorry, but that almost sounded like you thought you were worthy of any sort of authority around here," the man codenamed as Watson snarled back. His once cool demeanor evaporated, entirely replaced with nothing but contempt. "Look at you whelps, all I see is a bunch of frightened imbeciles walking around, pretending to understand the concept of teamwork that you all lack the intelligence to comprehend. Tell me," the man jabbed a finger at the guard in front of him, "just how many of your "friends" here would be willing to save your ass when I destroy it?"

"Uhh, gentlemen?" Gilder butted in, "It would be in the best interest of both parties to try and resolve this more peaceful-?" But he was interrupted; the insult was too much for the guards to standby any longer.

"THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU! GET HIM, BOYS!" Immediately, Pokémon dropped down from the rooftops and appearing from beside the guards, ready to attack. Before long, Gilder and his partner were encircled. Now even if they could get out of this messy situation with their own Pokémon, they were still easy targets for the guardsmen from high above. Some were now coming down the fort to get some of the action.

"Great, they're ganging on us. Not even trying to fight fairly."

"And whose fault is that?" Gilder glared at his partner, who had reverted back to his calm disposition. His partner casually shrugged the anger off and reached for his Poke ball. One of the Raticate bared its deadly fangs and Gilder knew from a glance that one chomp could cleave through his arms.

"Well," Gilder sighed as he looked up. He reached for his belt as well but pulled out a heavy set of dueling pistols. "Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way."

…

_Undetermined Galactic Facility (hours after the Galactic Warehouse Infiltration)…_

"How is Pain doing?" A man stood in the room, donning a blue surgical gown over an expensive suit with shiny black shoes. He looked entirely out of place.

He spoke as he cleaned through his fingernails with one hand and sounding bored, clearly disliking the sterile environment he was in.

"That blade just barely missed his vitals," the doctor explained calmly, removing his surgical mask. As he washed his hands, the water changed into a sickly bright red. "He's lost a lot of blood though, so we're unfortunately going to have to keep him here for several blood transfusions… Sir." The doctor added the last part in fluster and haste as though he just remembered who he was talking to.

"Don't worry," the man said calmly, his piercing brown eyes meeting with the doctor's. "He's not dead, that is all that we care about." He was in his late twenties, quite young for the veteran surgeon to be calling 'sir'.

Despite his thick, cropped hair, and cleanly shaven face, his eyes gave way to a man that seemed to thrive through misery of others. The surgeon had to be careful of what he said from this point on.

"Is he stable now to talk to?" the important man asked.

"Yes, sir. Though his condition prevents him from anything extraneous, I'd advised that you should not-."

"Will not take long. I promise." The man's voice was firm; he wasn't to be refused.

"Understood." The doctor motioned one of the male nurses, who quickly disappeared into the back room to prepare the ward before coming back to motion the man with him.

"It is set up. And his room is in the special ward."

"Excellent," the man said, "Now, can I take off this scrub? It's really not my style."

…

_Galactic Headquarters' Special Ward…_

"Good evening, Pain. I see you are looking well," the man said, appearing under the blue florescent light. "As well as cut up cheese can look anyhow."

"_Shut up_," Pain snarled, his face looked sickly under the light but his temper sure hadn't changed. If it weren't for the barrier that surrounded Pain, he wouldn't hesitate to give him a taste of what pain really felt like. "I was only careless that one time."

"Careless? You? This is more than just carelessness, Pain. You do realize that your negligence is what caused us billions in research. "

"I think you realize you should shut the hell up, Erik!" The heart rate spiked up on the monitor, but the man couldn't help but chuckle at the state of the once mighty Pain, shattered from his former glory.

"Still, the director seems to have forgiven you, since he found it in his heart to save your sorry hide. I guess giving us more information about the psychic put you in his good graces more than usual."

_I'm going to kill that bastard_, Pain thought, shuddering at the recollection of the psychic blowing through his defenses and reading his thoughts. Pain's mind was his sanctuary; anybody trespassing was going to end up dead, burned, and mutilated. The order did not really matter.

"I thought you would be happier to have found someone like you," the man continued, noticing Pain's disgust. "I expected it was like a nice family reunion for you."

"Speaking of family, how is your brother?" The smile of Erik's face shut out like a broken light bulb. Pain grinned madly; even a man like Erik had buttons to push.

"You're crossing a line there, Pain. I suggested you back away while I'm still in a good mood." Erik's voice was soft, but its tone was steely.

"Still pissed off that your brother joined the Resistance, I see. Makes me wonder if what transpired in the warehouse wasn't just due to any sort of 'leaked information.'"

"Your incompetence caused us to lose data," Erik reminded Pain. "Still, because of your state, I highly suggest that you keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you."

"And if you know what's good for you, better not try to contemplate anything to piss off the director," Pain replied. Erik turned and left quietly, slamming the door shut with such force that a crack appeared on the doorframe.

_Annoying how the little prick thinks he's all that._

…

_Back at the Resistance base…_

Assassin constantly stabbed at the dummy target until it was full of holes and ripped stuffing. With nothing else to do until the next mission, she had dedicated her off time to training. Still, it felt pointless to practice on something that wasn't made of flesh and blood. Unfortunately, no one was stupid enough to volunteer to be the 'dummy'. She was starting to understand why the ninja girl was always so desperate to find living test subjects for her training.

"Wow, you've been working hard. The thing's got more holes in that thing than a scattergun."

She perked up at a voice she did not recognize, and quickly turned her blades in their direction.

"Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoawhoa!" Donovan exclaimed as he ducked, barely dodging the claws. The wafer in his hand dropped to the floor. "Easy, kid. It's me!" Assassin stopped, but she didn't lower her blades.

"Me? Donovan? You know… the guy in charge of seizing the plans with your team? The big cheese? The copycat? Delta One? It was just a couple of hours ago… Please don't kill me." Despite the discrepancy in height, Donovan well knew it didn't matter for the killer blind girl. And it didn't really matter to the blades near his neck.

"I don't have any team," Assassin said, she lowered her blade and quite literally disappeared into the shadows before appearing again to continue her stab session with the practice dummy.

"Well aren't you precious…" he muttered to himself.

These dummies were a bit pricey, incidentally, meant to survive the impact of a Tauros. At this point, Donovan was starting to wonder if Assassin was just training or was venting out some intense anger on the poor thing. He hoped it was the former.

"Ahem, so…" Donovan coughed out, signaling that he was still wanted to talk. Assassin took a swipe at the dummy's legs. "I heard you reported to Mr. Nova before anybody else on your team."

"So?" A stab to the head.

"Well, err… by doing that, he decided to start utilizing the psychic and ghost PMs for combat. And when I mean PMs, I mean one in particular – Henry."

"And?" Two twisting stabs at the torso, both in the heart.

"You know who Henry is, right?" Assassin stopped her assault on the dummy.

"The Haunter PM?"

"That's the one."

"Then yes. Are we done here?" Assassin pressed a button on the wall and the tattered dummy was replaced with a new one by a dumbwaiter system. Assassin continued with the process of absolutely stabbing the thing to smithereens.

Donovan finally decided to stop beating around the bush and went straight to the point. "Why did you go tell Nova about that psychic without our input?" Assassin stopped again, except this time, her blades retracted, reverting back to her normal fingers. Donovan relaxed only slightly as Assassin turned to look at him. It was a pointless gesture, but the atmosphere called for it.

"Is this the problem you have with me? That I'm _doing my job_?" Her voice had a cold and unfriendly tone did not match the image of an eight-year-old child. If it weren't for the fact he knew what true maliciousness was, Donovan would've shirked away without a word. Granted he was extremely intimidated by her, but not enough to stop talking.

"Well. You know Henry; he isn't fit for battle yet." Donovan had to be careful, he didn't want make it sound like Assassin was to blame for the decision. "Maybe if you had…"

"What? Lied about the enemy's forces and keep important information away from the Resistance?"

"Okay, now you're just putting words in my mouth. And I'm telling you now, they taste unripe," Donovan said, slightly irritated. "Come on, you've talked to him before. The last thing we need is him out in the field before he's ready."

"You're just as messed up as he is and you seem fine."

"Well, thanks I gue-wait a minute."

"It doesn't matter who told Nova, now does it? Henry would've been forced to fight either way, instead of just sitting in the medical ward doing who knows what."

"You could've given all of us a heads up. We could've tried and convince Nova for some other action."

"Convince him? Are you sure we're talking about the same Nova person? Have you met Ray?" Assassin gave him a dry look.

He silently scratched the back of his head in an awkward pause. As much as Donovan felt otherwise, she was right. No matter how the scenario had happened, it was only a matter of time before Henry would be put in the front lines. But… it just doesn't seem right…

Assassin took Donovan's silence as his answer and went back to her training in silent annoyance. This time, she clearly didn't want to be interrupted. Donovan sighed in defeat and turned to leave when Assassin spoke up again.

"Word of caution," she added as her fingers reverted back into long thin blades, "If you ever want to talk to me, be sure to think it out before you make yourself sound stupid."

"And I'll be sure to give you a heads up about it, little lady," he said sarcastically.

Slighted, Assassin turned at him with her blades again, only to find no one there.

Meanwhile, people outside the training facility wondered why Donovan was running off with all his might in the opposite direction.

**Author's Notes**

So, we're being introduced to a new character and bringing back quite a few from previous chapters. Don't worry, everything will slowly come together and make sense.

And another flashback. I have to admit, Daniel is starting to become one of my favorite characters. And Gilder as well. Lol.

So, sixth gen of Pokémon is coming out. Any thoughts about it? What do you think of it now being all 3-D?

And did anybody saw that new Eevee evolution? It's so… pink. But it is kind of cute.

Moving on, as you might know from the other stories, I would like to have a 'profile' picture for this story but due to my lack of drawing skills, I would like to ask my readers to see if anybody is interested in drawing something instead. Just remember to give me a heads up.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


	15. A Terrible Reunion

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon**

Hello everybody and there is another update! And guess what? DP has been updated as well!

Thanks **SinCityAssassin** for betaing this chapter.

**Chapter 15:**

_Resistance base_

Despite a lengthy wait at the doctor's office, Justin had his injuries checked out and his Scizor back. He was planning to take a nice long nap when he had bumped into a breathless Donovan who brought him up to speed with the news.

"Assassin did what?!"

"She," Donovan spoke louder this time, "informed Nova without us and then Nova ordered the Captain to-"

"No need to repeat. I heard the first time."

"Then why did you ask what she said?"

"I was just… surprised."

"Well, that explains your open jaw. Listen, about Henry…"

"There is nothing we can do," Justin interrupted bitterly. "And don't try to act like there is."

"Yeah… but you were there for most of the battle. What was your judgment on the situation? Maybe you could shed some light for me on this Pain guy."

The image of that man's face popped up in Justin's mind and he immediately shuddered. "I know only one thing about him. He… is not someone we should take lightly. He's a killer, and he's sadistic. He wouldn't let anyone die without having some "fun" with them; it'd be a slow and painful death."

"Oh… good thing I wasn't there."

"We were lucky that Fuuta, Ashe, and Assassin showed up." Justin was reminded of his promise to Ashe to check up on her. Looks like a rest would have to wait a little bit longer.

"And that's what I'm getting at. I mean we have our own psychic person, not to mention we won. Why is Nova freaking out now, trying to get Henry on the field? I mean Henry isn't even going to be much of an asset on the battlefield for a long while. Emphasis on the _long_."

"Fuuta receives personal objectives from Nova, so he's not always going to be there to help save the day."

"Really? What kind?"

"Not exactly sure," Justin said, trying hard to stifle a yawn. "And anyways, if there were any more psychic people there, we would've been dead."

"And while I'm not trying to think about that thought, you have to admit, if that was the case, this plan wouldn't even get off the ground in the first place. Of course… they could have been station at other places but we never had a run in with them before… at all… so…"

"Get to the point."

"Okay, here's my question. Why did this psychic guy show up in front of you and Leo when we were in the facility? Why not earlier? There was no intel about an enemy psychic tearing us up in the front line. In fact, we didn't even know our own psychic guy was going to be there either. It just seems like an awful lot of coincidences."

Donovan raised a good point, the entire situation was puzzling, but Justin was too exhausted to come up with a good reason.

"I don't know. Maybe they wanted to see if we actually had a chance of taking them down." Donovan fell silent at this new idea and didn't say a word that Justin finally decided to say something.

"Listen, Donovan. I'm exhausted. I have to go to see Ashe before I get some sleep. Is it okay if we continue this conversation at a later time?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, sure."

With that, Justin left Donovan as the guy continued to stand there, thinking deeply into space.

…

"Whoa, looks like Sleeping Beauty has finally woken up."

The Blaziken PM groaned as she felt the throbbing pain at the side of her head increased as she slowly got up.

"Take it easy. You were hit pretty hard." When Ashe's blurry vision started to clear, she was able to see that she managed to get back into the infirmary. Next to her was the Glaceon PM – Ai. She seemed to be alone. There was no one else. Then all of the events from earlier came swirling back into her mind.

"Urghhh, what happened to everybody else?"

"They managed to survive. I'm pretty sure Leo and Justin are grateful of your timing."

"Until I got knocked out by that... arghhh…" Ashe rubbed her head gingerly, which was wrapped tightly with white bandages. "Gosh, thinking about it makes my head hurt."

"Still, it gave everybody enough time to make the final blow. At least that's what Leo told us."

"Where is he?" Ashe muttered, looking around the room. "He got badly hurt as well you know."

"Trying to help Henry I think. Though I'm not sure what kind of help."

"Henry? Why?"

"He got discharged an hour ago."

"D-discharge? How long have I been out? What is going on?" Ashe almost jumped out of bed in shock.

"Nova is making Henry learn how to fight. He'll be present when the next conflict arises."

"Henry!?" Disbelief was filled in Ashe's voice. "Are you serious? _Our_ Henry?"

"Wish I could joke," Ai said bitterly. Ashe looked downright horrified and sank her head back down on to the pillow. She had already seen enough of her comrades' deaths, and she didn't want to see the death of someone who shouldn't be fighting in the first place.

"W-why?"

"Because of the existence of Pain," another voice replied. The two female PMs turned to see Dr. Aria walking in. She had an extremely bitter look that seemed to be more common on her face as each day passed.

"I've been at a meeting with Nova," Dr. Aria explained to the two girls. "He literally tore up psychoanalysis data I had on Henry that I gave him, and he knows I _hate_ writing reports for him." Aria collapsed into her chair and looked extremely drained.

"Let me go get you some coffee," Ai said, clearly want to cheer up the dismal mood, "And get something for Ashe too."

"Ah, no. Don't worry about it," Ashe quickly said.

"It's okay; I'll get something for Ashe later. You should get back to your room. Don't worry about me." But Ai has already left the office to go to the cafeteria. Aria couldn't help but smile softly. "Such a nice girl." Aria then turned her attention to her patient.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Of course, thanks to you," Ashe looked worryingly though at Dr. Aria. "But are you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just focus on getting better. Nova forced everybody else to be discharged."

"What?!" Just how many more pieces of shocking news was Ashe going to get today? Nova never cared about any injured PMs unless there was a job to be done. He didn't like unproductivity but he didn't have the time to care how Aria took care of her patients. "Why?"

"I don't know," Aria said grimly, "But I have a gut feeling that something bad is going on within the Resistance and Nova is planning to do anything to destroy it."

…

_Inside Fuego Ironworks_

Eleven year old Gavin could hear the sounds of gunfire coming from outside and he didn't like it. He turned towards his mother, who also had a frightened look on her face. Without a word, she grabbed her son and pulled him toward the other side of the factory with some of the other women, along with the children and the elderly.

"Hey! I want to go and check it out!" Gavin noticed that kid named Hiro had a fit of rage as he tried to break away from his uncle's grasp. "Let me go! Let me join the fight!" For a fleeting moment, Gavin felt like doing the same thing; he didn't want to sit in the background and wanted to be out in the frontline. Unfortunately, the tight grip from his mother's hand made it impossible.

"Hiro! Stay down!" the uncle snapped angrily at his nephew. "You're too young."

"Hey, if it's Team Galactic at the door, I'd want to give them a personal and warm welcome to the head!"

"That child!" Gavin's mother shook her head in despair. Gavin merely looked at his Buizel and noticed that though his Pokémon was shaking with fear, Gavin could make out the G-mark that was on its hind leg. It seemed like it was recalling its old life in a Galactic waarehouse. Gavin, on the other hand, had so much rage and anger boiling inside of him that all he wanted to do was to fight to get the revenge he had been waiting for. Gavin noticed that all the men, who were off-duty, began to hide behind old wooden crates that were set up in a barricade formation.

Well, all of them except one.

"WHAT THE HELL?! What's all this noise?" In the corner, a thirty-year-old man was lying on sacks of hard cement and got up into a sitting position. He looked like he had just woken up from a long nap and his bloodshot olive eyes suggest that he wasn't done with that. Hiro stopped pulling away from his uncle and looked around with sudden interest.

The guy had a stubble and his soft long auburn hair reached the back of his neck and was tied in a little ponytail. The black cloth tied around his head was a stark contrast to his rosy cheeks. He wore thick traveling clothes and worn out boots, giving off a sense of wariness. He was irritably chewing on the toothpick in his mouth.

"Some of us are trying to get some shuteye!" The man immediately motioned the scary Shiftry next to him and they walked, without fear, toward the door where the sounds of gunfire continued.

Hiro recognized the man. Never revealing his name, this trainer had shown up a couple of months ago, carrying with him a large sack of personal goods. If he had a full beard, he would've looked like Santa Claus.

And then he proceeded to singlehandedly take out the guards with ease in a Pokémon battle. Of course, all the guardsmen weren't really expert trainers to begin with, but their quick defeats proved that this man was not to be taken lightly.

However, even though he was eventually accepted into the shelter, the auburn hair man was the only one of all the Pokémon trainers who refused to contribute any of his time to defend the factory and often vanished for a few days at a time. Every time he returned, he'd come with a whole bunch of stolen food and goods, sharing them with the other residents, but instead of being in the spotlight of praises, he always went off into a corner to sleep. Overall, Hiro guessed that he was a Santa Claus after all. Most of them accepted his ways, but the men often gave him the cold shoulder, though this mysterious Santa Claus didn't seem to care.

Hiro had admired the mysterious guy, but never had the chance to talk to him. Even when he would try, Hiro's uncle had kept him on a very tight leash. And now, Hiro was excited. He could finally see the man in action.

"What are you doing?!" Hiro's uncle yelled. "Get away from the door!" As though to prove a point, the shots of fire stopped and after a long silence, the door suddenly busted open, followed by a rusty cringing sound that gave everybody goosebumps. Light spilled into the dark building and everybody huddled away in fear. And as flakes of snow came pouring in, two tall strangers in hoods slowly and methodically appeared at the entrance. One of them was holding dual pistols, letting his hands hang to his sides while the other merely stood beside. The auburn hair man wasn't fazed at the guns.

Before anybody could get a word edgewise…

"Bullet Seed!" Shiftry sent out a powerful blast of seeds straight toward the two people.

"Stone Edge!" Immediately, the seeds were blasted away by the slabs of rocks the spiked from the floor and exploded in the air. The compound shook from the impact and Hiro, taking advantage of the sudden shockwave, hurried up forward to get a better look.

"Wow!" Hiro turned to see another kid next to him. Next to this boy was his frightened Buizel. There was a look of excitement and curiosity in the guy's eyes as well. Hiro recognized him. They were both the same age, but that kid, Gavin, preferred to keep to himself. This was probably the first time they stood this close to each other.

"What? Never seen a proper Pokémon battle before?" Hiro asked bluntly. The Buizel trainer blushed in embarrassment and slowly shook his head. "Well," Hiro continued on, looking back at the scene. "At least we're gonna see a decent one for once."

As soon as the dust cleared, Hiro and Gavin gaped when the large shadow behind the two cloaks revealed to be a powerful looking Rhyperior.

There were two things Hiro and Gavin can gather from the two men. One was that they were not wearing Team Galactic uniforms, which gave a short sigh of relief until they saw what lied behind the two figures. Littered everywhere were the unconscious guardsmen and their Pokémon. Whoever these people were, they were a force to be reckon with.

There was a sense of horror among the group of refugees – horror because the intruders had taken down their 'bodyguards', but there was also a sense of small hope among them because their last line of 'defense' was still standing – the only man who managed to do the same thing and take out all of those guardsmen. For Hiro and Gavin, they both wished that they could join the fight.

"You guys took out all those guardsmen?" There was a crooked grin of amusement and excitement on the man's face. "Well, at least I'm not going to be bored this time. Shiftry! Use Leaf Storm!" A hurricane of leaves blasted from its arm toward the rock rhinoceros Pokémon.

"Hammer Arm!"

_Woosh!_ The ground and rock Pokémon's powerful horizontal swing disrupted the powerful blast of leaves and the damage it took from the attack was miniscule its weakness to grass types.

"Now! Faint Attack!"

"Turn around and use Megahorn!" Shiftry had disappeared so quickly tried to attack from behind, but apparently the Rhyperior trainer had been expecting this. With incredible dexterity and speed, Rhyperior swung around was able strike down the Shiftry with its large horn and sent it crashing to the ground, severely injuring it.

"Ugggh, damn it!" the red hair man looked seriously pissed at the situation. "This is what happens when I don't have sugar in my system! Shiftry, get up!"

"Finish it off Rhyperior!" The man ordered his large bulky Pokémon to take down the Shiftry. Several women screamed in shock while the men continued to cower from behind.

"Wait, hold on!" the gun-wielding man stopped his friend from attacking again and focused on the auburn hair man, his eyes narrowed.

"What was that for?" His partner was infuriated at being interrupted.

"'Sugar in my system'… I heard that phrase before… Grant?" The man lowered his dual pistols and grinned with excitement. "Grant, is that you?!"

"Wha-? How?"

"It's me!" The man removed his hood and revealed to be in his late thirties. His hair was a dark shade of brown and was also wearing shades. "Don't you recognize me?"

"No way," the man muttered in shock and actually took a step back. The toothpick dropped out of his gaping mouth. "Not you…"

"You know this man?" the hooded man with the Rhyperior asked suspiciously.

"Of course! We went way back!"

"Quit making me sound old," Grant snarled. "And we don't go way back!"

"How long has it been? Ten years?"

"Three," Grant corrected. "And I can see that math still isn't your strong suit; nor is your perception of time." But the guy didn't seem to care and went over to try and give a hearty hug.

Anyone in the factory that managed to listen in on the conversation continued to with interest. The fact that the enigmatic trainer (whose name was apparently Grant) had recognized one of these two mysterious men was highly suspicious.

"Who are these people?" One of the male refugees demanded to Grant. "Are you with them?"

"Oh gosh, Grant! You have friends! Well, why didn't you introduce us in the first place? My name is Dr. Buchner and this here –" the man pointed to his hodded partner, "-is my friend Watson. Pleasure to meet you. And don't worry about your mates out there! I merely used some sleeping bullets. They should be having the best sleep of their lives since this tragic incident had occurred." Dr. Buchner shook the refugee's hand with such enthusiasm that it was rather uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Grant was grimacing, like he wanted to take Dr. Buchner's pistols and shoot him in the face.

"I apologize for the mess my colleague had made outside," Dr. Buchner continued, yelling to alert the whole facility, "He is a rather… restless at times."

"The mess _I_ made?" Watson gritted his teeth in anger. "_You_ were the one shooting everyone, I just defended us!"

"Details! Details! Now, onto business; I have something I wish to discuss with whoever is in charge here."

"Well," the refugee looked downright lost for words now. "You just shot him outside."

"Oh! No matter then! I guess you'll do. Can we have some tea first? Rather drafty weather we are having no?" With such a high-spirited atmosphere, all of the uncertainty and uneasiness evaporated, replaced instead with utter confusion.

"Can I kill him?" Grant muttered, eye his 'old' friend with disgust.

"Grant! Watson! Come! We have so much catching up to do and stuff. Oh, I must tell you the time when Watson fell down an elevator shaft. I even have a picture of it! See? He's screaming bloody murder."

"You can maim him," Watson replied back, "Kill him later so I can watch him suffer."

"Hmm, I actually like that idea better."

**Author's Notes**

R.I.P. Gilder (aka Dr. Buchner). You will be missed. XP

Moving on, we get to meet a new character – Grant. Strange guy but he seems to get along with Watson rather well… Perhaps too well…

Battle was short here but I promise the action will pick up very soon.

Remember guys, you can submit an artwork as the cover page for this story. I would like to see some fan art.

And I think that's about it. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

**-JapanDreamer**


End file.
